China to Strengthen Cooperation with US to Confront Common Challenges: Jiang

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 25, 2002

China to Strengthen Cooperation with US to Confront Common Challenges: Jiang

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Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Thursday in College Station of Texas that China will strengthen cooperation with the United States to confront the common challenges of terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts and environmental degradation.

Speaking at George Bush Presidential Library in Texas, Jiang said both China and the United States are victims of terrorism and the Chinese and Americans have stood together and carried out effective cooperation in the war against terror.

China will continue to step up consultation and cooperation with the United States on counter terrorism and join the rest of the world in the concerted fight against this common scourge, Jiang said.

The president said that preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, South Asia and the Middle East and protecting the global environment are the major issues of concern to the people the world over.

China and the United States ought to step up consultation and cooperation in these fields, for this serves the common interests of the two countries, and China stands ready to keep in touch with the United States, cooperate more closely with each other in search for a fair and reasonable solution to these problems and promote peace and stability in the world, Jiang said.

The president said China is the largest developing country while the United States is the largest developed country, and the two economies are highly complementary and the two cultures have distinctive features.

Noting that there exist vast potential and broad prospects for bilateral cooperation in the economic, trade, energy, environment, science and technology, education and other fields, Jiang said a constructive and cooperative relationship between China and the United States is in the fundamental interests of the Chinese and Americans and meets their common aspirations, and the development of such a relationship is bound to make the two peoples both winners.

"Let us keep up our good work, increase our understanding, expand our consensus and enhance our cooperation so as to build an even better future for China-US relations," he added.

China strives for regional, world peace

President Jiang said that China not only values world peace and stability, but has been making steady efforts towards that goal.

Jiang said that with its growing development, opening-up and interactions with the outside world, China's need for an international environment of lasting peace and stability is also growing.

"Strengthening peace and development at both regional and global levels serves China's fundamental interests," Jiang said.

As the national conditions vary from country to country, "it is perfectly normal for things, countries, nations or regions to be different one way or another," Jiang said.

Quoting a Confucius maxim that "in human relationships, a gentleman seeks harmony but not uniformity," Jiang said harmony promotes coexistence and co-prosperity, whereas differences foster mutual complementation and mutual support.

"Harmony without sameness is an important principle in the development of all social affairs and relationships and in guiding people's conduct and behavior," he stressed.

The Chinese president cited Confucius, who said 2,000 years ago "a gentleman seeks harmony but not uniformity," when reiterating that harmony instead of sameness is the essential factor for the concerted development of all civilizations.

As an Asian-Pacific country, the Chinese president said, China has been striving for peace and stability in the region, having resolved the land boundary question with most of its neighbors through peaceful negotiations and "in the spirit of good-neighborliness."

China is also an active participant in such multiple cooperation mechanisms as APEC, ARF and 10 plus 3, and has decided to set up a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in 10 years, he added.

Jiang said that as "a staunch force dedicated to peace in the Asia-Pacific region," China stands "ready to work with the United States and other countries in the region to promote a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific."

The Chinese president reaffirmed that the Chinese mainland "has the maximum sincerity and will exert its utmost efforts to make peaceful reunification (of Taiwan with the motherland) a reality."

He restated his "eight proposals" put forward in 1995, in which the mainland promises that after reunification Taiwan can keep its economic system and lifestyle, manage its party, government and military affairs on its own and the rights and interests of people in Taiwan will be effectively protected.

He said that an early solution to the Taiwan question and an early accomplishment of the peaceful reunification of China is conducive to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.

The president said that in recent years, personnel exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have been on the increase steadily and interactions in the economic, cultural and other fields are also expanding. "The people in Taiwan share our strong desire for an early opening of the three direct links."

"As far as solving the Taiwan question is concerned, no formula is better than 'peaceful reunification and one country, two systems,' and nothing threatens peace and stability in the Straits more than 'Taiwan Independence'," the president said. He urged the United States to stick to its commitment to the three Sino-US Joint Communiques and the one China policy.

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