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New Opportunity for Developing China-US Relations
"The upcoming APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in China's Shanghai is very important and timely", said Steve Van Andel, chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce and board chairman of the US-based Amway Company, during an exclusive interview with People's Daily correspondent Liu Aicheng stationed in the United States before he was prepared to go to Shanghai to attend the meeting.
He said: In the face of the present world economic situation, especially the events occurred weeks ago, the upcoming meeting is particularly important, it provides us with a very good opportunity for us to sit down again to reset the focus on the economic issue and on mutual cooperation in this region.
According to Andel, the forthcoming meeting will gather together the industrialists and businessmen and leaders of the political circle of all developed and developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss regional economic and trade cooperation, this will not only promote the economic development of this region, but also is conducive to improving and enhancing cooperative relations among them.
He said: I'm expecting to attend the meeting because it is very important to US-China relations. President George W. Bush's attendance and the meeting between leaders of the United States and China will help boost the development of US-China ties. In his opinion, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries will directly affect the economy of the entire Asia-Pacific region and even of the world as a whole. He said: The United States is the largest developed country and China the biggest developing country in the world. Over the past 30 years, the United States almost maintained over 25 percent GDP of the globe's total. And China has witnessed continued growth in economic strength since 1978, it has a vast market and even greater potential. If we put the market and economic strengths of the two countries together, then their influence and function will be apparent. Most parts of the Asia-Pacific region have maintained economic and trade ties with the United States and China. It can be seen that economic cooperation between the United States and China will benefit the entire Asia-Pacific region's economic cooperation and will help boost the development of the Asia-Pacific economy and even the global economy. Given this, the forthcoming meeting not only is extremely vital to promoting US-China relations, but also is of highly important significance to expediting the economic growth of the entire Asia-Pacific region.
Referring to US-China relations, Andel stressed: Currently, China is the fourth trade partner of the United States, the rapid development of trade ties between the two countries has comprehensively pushed forward the development of the relations between the two countries. In the past 25 years, the United States and China have cooperated in solving a series of regional and global issues. An important way to establish a more stable relationship between the two countries is to increase bilateral trade and investment and, through creating more business opportunities, to expand bilateral value and interest and thus promote friendly, cooperative relations.
Andel has long been devoted to spurring the development of US-China economic and trade ties. In many of his speeches, he expressed his support for the normalization of trade ties between the United States and China and support for the unconditional extension of China's PNTR (permanent normal trade relations) status and support of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since he was newly appointed chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, he has paid two visits to China, aimed to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. He said he had planned to visit 50-60 branches of the Chamber of Commerce in various parts of the United States to transmit information to bosses of those small and medium-sized enterprises and urge them to actively develop foreign trade as well as trade with China. He added: After China's accession to the WTO, more US firms will have opportunities to explore markets in China which, in turn, will be able to attract more foreign capital and technologies. With China being linked up with the world economy and trade, China's economy and trade will develop even faster.
Andel eyes the Chinese market potential and economic development strength as very promising. He said: US Amway Company, founded in 1959, is a world-famous producer of household products for daily use. The company has been investing in China for seven years, with the total investment topping US$1 million, and it has planned to expand its investment in China. He added: We should admit that in the course of exploring the Chinese market, we did have encountered many difficulties. Nevertheless, we are always confident and optimistic because we have seen the bright prospect for China's development as well as for investing in China.
In his opinion, the sustained and steady development of China's economy is highly beneficial to the region's economic and trade development. The forthcoming informal meeting of APEC leaders, to be held in China's economically developed Shanghai is of immediate and far-reaching significance.
Andel said in conclusion that in the capacity as chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce and board chairman of Amway Company, he would attend the APEC meeting because Amway is also one of the biggest sponsors of the meeting. He expressed the hope that the meeting would carry the US-Chinese economic and trade ties to a new stage, thus making it become a new opportunity for changing the Asia-Pacific economic situation.
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