南方财经全媒体记者谢鸿州 广州报道

Xi, Biden had candid, in-depth exchange of views

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Wednesday held a summit meeting in San Francisco, where they sought the way forward for the strained ties between the world's two largest economies. To better understand the much-anticipated summit, we are joined by Michael Hart, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

The U.S. and China can do better by working together

SFC Markets and Finance: Michael, nice to see you again. The two heads of state had a candid and in-depth exchange of views for over 4 hours. What’s your comment on this latest meeting between the two largest economies?

Michael Hart: So well thank you. First of all, it was very good to see them getting together face to face. The other thing I noticed actually was the people around the presidents were people who have been having dialogues. So, for example, I saw Secretary Raimondo, Yellen, Blinken, Kerry, all of them have been to China recently and all of them have been having discussions with their counterparts. So, I thought the good thing was, although it's the first time that the presidents had spoken face to face in about a year, actually their teams have been working at an increasing level of exchange, so it just felt like people who'd work together recently getting together for another meeting. From my point of view, that means they probably had the opportunity to make some progress.

SFC Markets and Finance: President Xi said during the meeting that, “the world is big enough to accommodate both countries, and one country’s success is an opportunity for the other.” Do you agree with the statement?

Michael Hart: Right. We'll first say that the whole basis that business operates on is that both groups can succeed. So AmCham China member companies and the U.S. and China have actually been operating under this assumption that both countries can work together. The world is big enough for both of us that we can succeed together. So, I think one of the outcomes of this will be that it reminds people that we do value each other. Sometimes the American business community asks are we still welcome here? Is the environment the same? Sometimes the Chinese say should we still be trading with the United States? And of course, the truth is if you look at the statistics over the past several years, even during COVID controls, even with heightened tension, we've continued to trade more and more with each other. And so, I think this meeting was just reassuring that we all agree with this basis that we can do better by working together. The world is certainly big enough for both of us and then we have plenty to gain by trading back and forth.

SFC Markets and Finance: According to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Xi and Biden have reached a consensus on over 20 items in various fields, including political diplomacy, cultural exchange, global governance and military security. How do you assess the outcomes of the meeting?

Michael Hart: So, it will take us a little while to go through all of the announced agreements, et cetera, to understand all the details. But a couple of things stand out. I mean one of them is that if there's an increase in people to people exchanges. We actually think that this is very critical. Of course, what we've seen during COVID and then recently was a real decline in people to people exchanges. And that's really important to let us humanize each other and understand that we have similar motivations. So, anything with people to people, whether it be at the government level, level relates to diplomats or students or travel or tourism. All that's really important. Also, the idea of additional flights which allows those of us to travel back and forth more easily. That's really important. And then when we get down to specific industries, you know if there are agreements that specific types of trade can be fast-tracked or made smoother, that's also a real positive.

SFC Markets and Finance: In your opinion, what kind of changes and impacts will this meeting bring to the U.S.-China relations?

Michael Hart: One of the things I think more important than any specific outcome achievable is just the tone. So, the fact that President Xi took the time to go to the United States, took the time to have a separate meeting with the American business community and the American government. I think those are all really positive signs and of course people look for indications from leadership about what they should do. I think that will trickle down. I expect to see more cooperation, more friendly discussions, and hopefully more agreements coming out further down the chain. Because everybody sees the two top leaders President Xi and President Biden. They're signaling to everybody else. It's okay to work together. We do think cooperation is a positive win. I think that's a really important mile marker for us all to go forward.

Signals are very positive for business community

SFC Markets and Finance: We have also invited another important representative of the American business community, Dr. Harley Seyedin to the show. He is the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China.Dr. Seyedin, what’s your take on the latest meeting and what signals do you think it has sent to the American business community?

Harley Seyedin: Certainly, the signals are very positive. What President Xi Jinping has said and what President Biden has said are all positive. They all point to a direction of future cooperation, to increase the investment both ways, and the business and trade going forward. I think this was the meeting that was needed for quite some time to bring the relationship back on the right road. And I think we've achieved that.

We congratulate President Xi and President Biden for putting some differences aside and rising above the differences and actually work on the things that we can agree to. And I'm sure as we continue discussion, as this agreement has already proven, is that discussions are going to help us rise, help the two countries literally resolve all of the issues. It will be business as usual as it has been in the past.

I think once you remove certain negatives, certain uncertainties from the investment， the opportunities that are abundant here in China and also abundant in the U.S. with Chinese investors. Business investors are going to feel much more comfortable investing their money. The reality is that American investments in China have been rather profitable for the past 30 years. And we can expect that they're going to continue to be profitable for the next 30 years and we want to make sure that. Of course, Chinese companies have the same opportunities for investment in the United States. And working together I think we're going to have a much better future, not just for China and the United States, but certainly for the world as a whole. Because whatever the U.S. and China do will reflect on what people around the world would do as well.

I totally agree with the President Xi that the two countries need to work together. Clearly by working together, two countries can chart the direction for the future of not just the U.S. and China, but the future of the world as whole and take us into the next thirty, seventy and even the next century of prosperity and jobs and happiness for people of all countries.

SFC Markets and Finance: The meeting talked about advancing a cooperative agenda in areas where their interests converge. What opportunities of cooperation do you think will be provided for the American business community in China?

Harley Seyedin: China and the U.S. economies are intertwined. Our interests are common in most areas. The fact that we have reached agreements of more than 20 areas is quite commendable and a good start for the future. And I think of course the most important part for business is the ability for us to invest happily without any restrictions and without any barriers in our way. I think China continues to open its markets and that is the direction that China is headed to. And with that open market, I do believe that we are going to continue to invest in the Chinese market and benefit from the Chinese market.

The reality is that you know we have 75% of our members of the American Chamber of Commerce are here either importing or producing goods and services in China for the Chinese market. Therefore, we're benefiting greatly from the Chinese market while we bring in high quality and safe and the latest technology products into the Chinese market, making it available that helps consumers in China as well. So, everything we do together is beneficial for both sides. We are very happy about the agreements that have been reached.

The reality is that every time the two parties begin dialogue and continue discussions and open communication channels in every aspect, it leads into resolving issues, resolving differences, continued opening up of the markets on both sides in the U.S. and China.

And therefore, the changes that are going to naturally take place as just simply the result of the open dialogues are going to be exponential and going to benefit the business community as well as the consumer community and the people both in the U.S. and in China as a whole. And of course, the real winners will be people all around the world. China continues on the road of opening up and high quality development, of which we want to be a very big part of and of course, I hope that the two sides will continue to talk and continue to have dialogue on a normal, regular way and I think the future will be a lot better for us. And of course, as business, we will be the biggest winners as a result.

策划：于晓娜

监制：施诗

责任编辑：和佳

记者：谢鸿州

摄像：李群

制作：蔡于恬

新媒体统筹：丁青云 曾婷芳 赖禧 黄达迅

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪

海外运营编辑：庄欢 吴婉婕 龙李华 张伟韬

出品：南方财经全媒体集团