Arya News - Observers say high-level engagement will shore up confidence in a turbulent world.
LOS ANGELES/HONG KONG/BEIJING – President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to the United States is garnering widespread global attention, as the high-level engagement between China and the US is expected to steer bilateral relations toward stability and shore up confidence in a turbulent world.
Xi will make a state visit to the US from Wednesday to Friday, at the invitation of US President Donald Trump. This will be his second state visit to the US since 2015, and comes within six months of Trump’s state visit to China in May.
Observers said the exchange of visits between the heads of state of the world’s two largest economies is “very significant” and “consequential” for the global economy, because steady Sino-US ties hold the key to world peace and stability.
US Congresswoman Judy Chu said, “It is very significant that President Xi is coming to Washington, DC”, highlighting the importance of the two leaders having “an opportunity to meet face-to-face and discuss the major issues affecting the relationship”.
Positive signal
Edward Cai, president of the All American Chinese Association in Southern California, expressed hope that the meeting would “send positive signals regarding stabilizing relations, strengthening communication, enhancing mutual trust and expanding cooperation”.
“It is not alarming for differences to exist between China and the US. The key lies in maintaining dialogue, managing differences and avoiding miscalculation and confrontation,” he said.
Cai emphasized that the stable development of China-US relations serves not only the shared interests of the two peoples, but is also crucial for global peace, stability and prosperity.
“We have full confidence in the vision of the two leaders and the leadership demonstrated by them in steering bilateral relations toward stability,” he added.
Wichai Kinchong Choi, senior vice-president at Kasikornbank in Thailand, said that it is “always a positive sign when the leaders of the world’s two major powers sit down and talk”.
Emphasizing the importance of high-level dialogue “at a time when the global economy is facing tremendous uncertainty”, Choi said that “constructive engagement between China and the US will not only benefit the two countries, but also provide greater certainty for businesses and economies in the (Asia-Pacific) region”.
Mohamed Sabreen, an expert in international affairs and Middle East issues based in Cairo, Egypt, said that “dialogue and managed competition are more constructive than confrontational policies”. He also warned that “a renewed trade war or deeper strategic tensions would create uncertainty far beyond Washington and Beijing”.
“Middle Eastern countries want to preserve their freedom to develop partnerships with both powers, rather than face the pressure to choose between them,” he added.
Bali Deepak, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, described the upcoming meeting as “very significant”, because it comes at “a particularly consequential moment in US-China relations”.
He noted that during Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, the two leaders agreed to build a constructive relationship of strategic stability.
“I think the meeting provides an opportunity to manage — rather than resolve — the structural rivalry between the two,” Deepak said, referring to the US-initiated tariffs and other pressuring tactics against China in recent years.
“The US-China relationship is perhaps the single most consequential external relationship for the strategic environment of the Asia-Pacific. Greater stability between Washington and Beijing could reduce uncertainty for Asian economies and supply chains,” he added.
James Shikwati, founder and director of the Inter Region Economic Network, a think tank based in Nairobi, Kenya, said that “for Africa, stable relations between the US and China are preferable to confrontation”, as this will yield “a predictable international environment” for the continent’s development.
AI-based technologies
Klaus Heinrich Raditio, a lecturer in international relations at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta, Indonesia, said that the two countries should cooperate in developing AI-based technologies to ensure greater peace and stability.
“Indonesia hopes that countries in the Global South will be involved in the development and utilization of AI-based technologies,” he added.
In May, Xi and Trump agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability over the next three years and beyond. During the visit, Xi will have an in-depth exchange of views with Trump on major issues concerning bilateral relations as well as world peace and development, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday.
Yang Wanli in Bangkok, and Wang Xiaodong and Edith Mutethya in Nairobi contributed to this story.
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