This trade route from China created 400,000 jobs for the US: Ambassador Qin Gang

Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese embassy in the US

China and the US have no better choice than solidarity and cooperation facing multiple challenges from fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, restoring growth, stabilizing industrial and supply chains, to addressing climate change, according to Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang.

Qin made the remarks during a ceremony on Friday (US time) where he accepted the plaque of recognition and a commemorative jacket from Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA).

"The honor you present to me belongs to Chinese companies. It is also shared by all those devoted to cooperation between COSCO Shipping and the Port of Boston," he said.

In March 2002, COSCO Shipping opened a direct vessel service from the Chinese mainland to the Port of Boston upon agreement of the two sides. Over the past 20 years of successful operation, it has not only saved 9,000 jobs in the Port of Boston, but also created another 400,000 jobs in the US, winning praise from the local government and people across the US.

Massport maritime director Michael Meyran said at the ceremony that "the 20-year partnership has been the perfect model of how to do business between the US and China. We look forward to continuing this partnership of business cooperation for the long future."

COSCO's cooperation with the Port of Boston is an example of the win-win economic and trade cooperation between China and the US, the ambassador said.

More than 70,000 American companies have invested in the Chinese market, of which 97 percent made profit over the past year, and 64 percent saw their revenues increase.

China and the US have long been bound together by shared interests. The US is one of the biggest sources of foreign investment for China, and China is the No.2 holder of US' treasury bonds.

Data from China's General Administration of Customs showed that in 2021, trade between China and the US soared by 28.7 percent and amounted to $755.6 billion - maintaining strong growth momentum and contributing 12 percent to China's record $6 trillion foreign trade for the year despite tariffs and bruising political tensions between the world's two largest economies.

"Our trade has provided many quality but inexpensive products for American consumers, and supported 2.6 million American jobs," Qin noted.

He called on the two countries to follow the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation and bring bilateral relations back on track, which will give the world some long-awaited stability and certainty.

"China-US cooperation can deliver many things good for both countries and the whole world; it can also bring tangible benefits and opportunities to places like the Port of Boston, to our longshoremen, and to all of us. If China and the US enter into conflict and confrontation, if we fight a trade war or a new 'Cold War,' it will be a political tragedy that benefits no one. It will cause unbearable cost to each of us, to people like you and me," he said.