Wang calls for cooperation instead of decoupling in China-US ties

China and the United States should stop attempts at decoupling and advance the relationship through cooperation, and live up to their responsibility for the world, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Wednesday.

The cooperation between the two countries has never been a case of one party giving favor to the other, or one party taking advantage of the other, said Wang.

Wang said both countries have benefited much from the cooperation, and no one is being taken advantage of or being ripped off, as the mutually beneficial cooperation over the years has turned China and the United States into a community with shared interests.

He said that China has achieved rapid growth in part thanks to its opening-up to and cooperation with the rest of the world, including the United States, adding that China's continued growth has also created impetus for sustained growth and an enormous market for the United States and other countries.

"If China-US cooperation were unfair and not reciprocal, how could it have continued for several decades? How could China-US ties have come such a long way?" Wang asked.

Noting that the problems brought by globalization and free trade should be dealt with through internal reform, Wang said that acting like a sick person who forces others to take medicine for his own illness or even resorting to decoupling will not work.

The development of China and of the United States is not a zero sum game, and the two countries should not reject each other but draw on each other's strength to achieve common development, according to Wang.

As COVID-19 takes its toll on the global economy, China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, should work for mutual benefit on an equal footing, stop attempts at decoupling and advance the relationship through cooperation, and live up to their responsibility for the world, said Wang.