Commentary: Now Is the Prime Time for China-US Sub-National Cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at White House in Washington D.C. on September 25, 2015 during his first State Visit to the U.S. (Photo by Wen Xian)

A video titled “Tour the U.S.A. with Xi Dada” has gone viral on the Internet lately. The clip featured the changes that two Chinese companies had brought to South Carolina, United States; and showcased the important role local-level Sino-U.S. cooperation played in the bilateral relationship.

 “Without successful cooperation at the sub-national level, it would be very difficult to achieve practical results for cooperation at the national level,” said President Xi at the China-U.S. Governor’s Forum. President Xi’s state visit plan corresponded to his words. He chose Washington State, which tops all 50 states in the U.S. in exports to China, as his first stop of the State Visit. He attended the Sino-U.S. Governors’ Forum and the roundtable discussion between Chinese entrepreneurs and their counterpart from the U.S. He also recalled the days he lived with Muscatine residents 30 years ago in his speech at the South Lawn of the White House. All of these lead to one of the significant results of this State Visit, which is the consensus achieved on local-level collaboration between China and the U.S. on economy, trade, and investments.

If China and the U.S. can take advantage of both nations’ gigantic economic scales, and share the benefits brought by local-level cooperation, the two countries will be able to complement each other to bring communications in all fields to a next level.

“State-to-state relations ultimately rely on the support of the people and serve the people,” said President Xi in the China-U.S. Governors’ Forum. In 2014, American exports to China provided 12 million jobs for the U.S. “American exports to China have nearly doubled since I took office,” said Barack Obama, President of the United States. U.S. statistics also indicated that China’s investments in the U.S. exceeded at $ 8 billion per year in the past five years, which is still accelerating. Rhodium Group estimates that the investments Chinese companies to bring to the U.S. in the next five years will create 200,000 to 400,000 jobs in the U.S. The potential for the sub-national cooperation between the two countries is huge, and is soundly based on robust demands.

“Now is the prime time for China-US sub-national cooperation,” said President Xi in Seattle. China and the U.S. are the world’s largest economies. Both countries are exploring the chances in policy reforms, adjustments and transformations. The two countries can complement with each other in various fields.

In the past ten years, the acceleration rate of the exports from 42 states in the U.S. to China has more than doubled. China ranked world’s first in exporting to the U.S. and third in importing from the U.S. The bilateral trade reached $555.1 billion last year. These figures indicated the opportunities for China-US sub-national cooperation, which can later on better serve the interests of people from both countries. The two sides need to unlock more local potentials for complementary cooperation. The key to successful cooperation is to leverage our respective strengths.

Chinese philosopher Han Feizi said 2300 years ago, that friendship between peoples holds the key to build sound state-to-state relations. This is the same case 23 centuries later in the Sino-U.S. Relations. Ever since the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relationship with the U.S., the sub-national cooperation has been booming. In October 1979, Hubei-Ohio connection was built. Over the past 35 years, similar friendships have been extended to 31 provinces in China and across the 50 states of America. “One million U.S. students will be encouraged to learn Chinese in the next five years,” said President Obama on Sept. 25 at the White House. The two grand children of Vice President Joe Biden are already on track, he added. The friendship between China and the U.S. is firmly embedded in the friendship of the peoples.

“Relatives and friends become closer if they visit each other more. This is also true for Chinese and Americans,” said President Xi on the sub-national cooperation in Seattle. Exchanges bring deeper friendship and more vigorous practical cooperation. Local governments from both sides need to engage each other extensively in areas like education, tourism, and sports, and encourage more interactions between people from all walks of life.

Some 10,000 people travel between China and the U.S. every single day. Every 17 minutes, a flight would fly to and from either China or the U.S. The Sino-U.S. Relationship has been developing on the support of the local governments and the people from both countries for the past 36 years. The future development relies on improving sub-national cooperation, which then serves sub-national regions in both countries. The development will also boost the energy in Sino-U.S. relations, yielding more rewards for people from both sides of the Pacific.