The United States and China must and will find ways to work together to make the world safer, more sustainable and prosperous, renowned U.S. experts said in New York on Thursday.
To make the world better and for the benefits of both peoples, the United States and China must "work together to confront the real threats of climate change, terrorism, pandemics and economic crisis," said Stephen A. Orlins, president of the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR), at its annual gala dinner in New York City.
Noting that ties between the world's two largest economies are now experiencing a difficult time, Orlins believed that in the end it is the people of the United States and China who will determine the future of the U.S.-China relationship.
Also at the gala dinner, Dr. Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state, told the audience: "I think we are now at a moment of fundamental importance in our relationship."
"The fundamental issue is whether two great countries can live together in a new world for international politics ... in which we find that we emphasize the importance of better relations and the importance of co-existence," said the 95-year-old diplomat and renowned strategist, who just returned from a trip to Beijing.
"I think it can be done," said Kissinger, whose secret visit to China in the early 1970s broke the ice and paved the way for the normalization of U.S.-China relations.
Calling himself a realist in international politics and a witness to many crises and their solutions, Kissinger hoped that both countries can act with the conviction that "the practical problems before us are difficult, but the opportunity before us is to create an international system for the first time in world history in which peace and order are accepted by all the nations."
Echoing the U.S. experts' views, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, who braved the first snowfall on the East Coast and traveled all the way to New York from Washington D.C. for the event, also called for efforts to safeguard the sound development of bilateral ties for the benefits of both peoples and the world at large.
Cui noted in his speech that despite the tremendous changes that have taken place in the world over all these years, the people of China and the United States have succeeded in "building a strong and growing relationship between the two great countries."
More recently there have been some questioning or even challenges to that "very good foundation of our relationship," Cui noted, calling for the abandonment of "outdated Cold War mentality" and "belief in the zero-sum game of great powers."
Following an approach that emphasizes coordination and cooperation, "we will be able to build an even stronger and more comprehensive, win-win relationship for our two countries," said the ambassador.
Present at the NCUSCR gala were some 400 people, including experts, scholars, officials, diplomats and business representatives.
At the event, Orlins noted that over the past 12 months, the Committee has conducted 177 public programs, dialogues and exchanges on U.S.-China relations.
Founded in 1966, the NCUSCR is a non-partisan and non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of understanding and cooperation between the United States and China.
