On April 25, Ambassador Cui Tiankai attended the opening session of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Committee of 100 and delivered a speech on China-US relations. Chairman of the Committee of 100 Dominic Ng and over 200 people from various sectors in the US attended the event.

Ambassador Cui commended the Committee’s efforts and contribution in promoting the friendship and cooperation between China and the United States. Ambassador Cui pointed out that over the past 34 years since China and the United States established diplomatic ties, China-US relations have made remarkable progress despite the twists and turns. The two countries are engaging with each other at a depth and breadth never seen before. China-US relationship has become one of the most important and dynamic bilateral relationships in the world. The two sides have established over 90 dialogue mechanisms. Each year, over 3.5 million visits are made across the Pacific. Under the new circumstances, the top leaders of the two countries are committed to working together to build a China-US cooperative partnership and explore a new type of relationship between major countries, setting out the direction for the relationship. Going forward, the two sides should view China-US relations with a long-term and strategic perspective, respect and properly handle each other’s major interests and concerns, enhance dialogue, deepen strategic mutual trust, expand cooperation and steadily advance China-US relations.

Ambassador Cui said that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. Since 1979, bilateral trade volume has grown by over 190 folds and reached US$ 484.7 billion in 2012. The two economies are closely intertwined. In the next 5 years, China will import over US$ 10 trillion of commodities and outbound investment will exceed US$ 500 billion. This means enormous opportunities to all countries including the United States. Investment by Chinese companies in the United States is conducive to the US economy and employment. He hoped that the US side could remove trade barriers and provide favorable investment environment for Chinese companies. As two major economies, China and the United States should work more closely together to further elevate bilateral cooperation and inject new impetus to China-US economic and trade ties.

Ambassador Cui stress that in the process of building the China-US cooperative partnership and exploring a new type of relationship between major countries, media plays a critical role in terms of increasing the mutual understanding and strategic trust between the two countries. He hoped that media could provide more objective, accurate and balanced reports on China and China-US relations so as to create a favorable atmosphere and more positive energy for a stable and healthy China-US relationship.

Established in 1990 and based in New York, the Committed of 100 brings together influential Chinese Americans in the United States. Its mission is to promote exchanges between the United States and China in the political, economic and other areas. This year’s annual conference is held in Washington, DC. Its topics include China-US strategic trust, bilateral economic and trade relations, mutual investment and the role of media.