Chapter 3 2. Starting from the China-US Summit

"As soon as you go abroad, you love your country" is also a historical memory. From June 7 to 8, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama held a unique China-U.S. summit at the Annenberg Estate in California, USA.This reminds me of a past event, that is, another summit of heads of state between China and the United States held 28 years ago, a summit that I personally experienced. In the past 28 years, China and the United States have shown a general trend of development. The speed of China's "catch-up" and the momentum of "surpassing" are amazing.

In late July 1985, then Chinese President Li Xiannian visited the United States, accompanied by Vice Premier Li Peng and State Councilor Ji Pengfei.I accompanied the delegation and served as the English interpreter for Vice Premier Li Peng, participating in this very meaningful diplomatic event.Li Xiannian was a general who fought bloody battles and made outstanding contributions to the establishment of New China, and was also an outstanding leader in the construction of New China.Beginning in 1954, he served as Vice Premier of the State Council for 26 years. In 1982, he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and in 1983 he was elected as the country's president. He was 76 years old when he visited the United States.In my impression, Li Xiannian is not only a senior politician, but also a humorous elder.

I remember that one week before the departure, all the visiting personnel participated in a preparatory meeting held in Zhongnanhai. The head of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported to everyone the preparations for the visit. He mentioned that the number of participants in the main hall of the White House Welcome Dinner was limited, and the Chinese side was 14 people.Li Xiannian said with a smile: "Then you go, I won't go." When it was introduced that national costumes are required for the welcome banquet at the White House, and everyone is invited to wear dark Chinese tunic suits, Li Xiannian jokingly asked: "Isn't the United States the most free?" Why? Why do you still have to dress uniformly?"

Comparing the two China-US summit meetings around 28 years ago, the biggest difference is first of all the form.Chairman Li Xiannian's visit is the first visit to the United States by a Chinese head of state.James Roderick Lilley, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific Affairs of the United States, briefed reporters before the visit: "This trip is the first visit to the United States by a Chinese head of state, so it has very important symbolic significance." On the morning of July 21, 1985 At 10:00, US President Reagan held a grand welcome ceremony for Chairman Li Xiannian on the South Lawn of the White House. The band played the national anthems of China and the United States, and a 21-gun salute was fired. Chairman Li Xiannian and President Reagan delivered speeches respectively.Reagan just had a colon tumor resection 10 days ago, so he came to preside over the ceremony. He was courteous, warm and friendly to the Chinese guests, and he used Chinese twice in his speech. Respect and reciprocity".Li Xiannian's reply was also very decent: "Mr. President, I am very happy to see you recovering quickly. I am deeply moved that you are receiving me personally now."

State visits have a glamorous side, such as grand welcome ceremonies, well-dressed welcome dinners, etc. China really attached great importance to these etiquettes and forms at that time.A big country that has just come out of the "Cultural Revolution" civil strife and its modernization is still in its infancy, longs for sufficient respect and equal treatment from the outside world.Today China still values ​​these etiquettes and formalities, but we have been able to let go of all this, because we are more confident, we can not need these things to prove that we are already a big country with global influence, and we are already happy to lead with other countries more casual, more pragmatic informal meetings.

Official state visits have their advantages, but the various protocol red tapes often take up too much time and energy on both sides. During the visit 28 years ago, considering that President Reagan had just undergone surgery, the two sides only arranged three events for him, one was a welcome ceremony, the other was a formal meeting, and the third was a welcome dinner.To count, there is not much time for the leaders of the two sides to talk.At the welcome ceremony, the leaders of the two sides only had the simplest conversation, and then delivered speeches according to the script.The subsequent formal meeting lasted only one and a half hours, and the translation took another half of the time.According to the etiquette of the United States at that time, President Reagan sat with Chairman Li Xiannian's wife Lin Jiamei, and Chairman Li Xiannian sat with President Reagan's wife Nancy.I really feel that there seems to be not much common topic between them.

I sat at the second table with Vice Premier Li Peng and Vice President George W. Bush, looked at the first table of the two heads of state and their wives, and found that they did not have much conversation.Li Peng and Bush, who did not have his wife present, sat together and had a pleasant conversation.Bush showed his love for China, wearing a "Shanghai brand" watch he bought in China and a tie made in China. Apart from talking about the big topics of diplomacy and strategy, they mainly talked about Zhou Enlai.Bush said that he had a lot of dissatisfaction with Kissinger, because when he was the director of the China-US Liaison Office in Beijing, Kissinger never allowed him to meet with Premier Zhou Enlai, and it was his lifelong regret not to be able to meet Zhou Enlai.

The change in the format of the meeting also reflects the difference in positioning between the two visits. 28 years ago, the positioning of the visit was "the first visit to the United States by a Chinese head of state", with the purpose of "enhancing mutual understanding, promoting the relationship between the two countries, strengthening the friendship between the people, and maintaining world peace". Strategic and historic meeting".President Xi Jinping and President Obama raised three major questions during their first meeting: "What kind of Sino-US relationship do we need? What kind of cooperation should China and the United States carry out to achieve a win-win situation? How should China and the United States work together to promote world peace Development? This is not only a matter of concern to the people of our two countries, but also a matter of concern to the international community. Both of us should proceed from the fundamental interests of the two peoples and human development and progress, innovate thinking, and take active actions to jointly promote the building of a new type of major-country relationship .”

During the meeting, Xi Jinping emphasized that "China and the United States must embark on a new path that is different from the previous 'inevitable confrontation and conflict between major powers'. To take such a path, the two sides should strive to build a new type of major-country relationship, respect each other, cooperate and share common interests." Win to benefit the people of the two countries and the people of the world. This is also an important international concern, because the cooperation between China and the United States is the ballast of world stability and the booster of world peace."

Behind these remarks is the fact that the strength of China and the United States has undergone tremendous changes in the past 28 years.The rapid rise of China has shocked the United States and the whole world. When we visited the United States in 1985, the size of China's economy was less than one tenth of that of the United States. Today, China is the second largest economy in the world. Twenty-eight years ago, the annual trade volume between China and the United States was only US$6 billion (in 1984). Today, China's daily trade volume exceeds US$10 billion, making it the world's largest trading nation.Most authoritative research institutions in the world predict that: if calculated according to purchasing power parity, China’s economic aggregate will surpass that of the United States during Obama’s tenure; if calculated according to official exchange rates, China’s economic aggregate will surpass that of the United States during Xi Jinping’s tenure. It is a great event with milestone significance in human history. 28 years ago, President Reagan said in his speech welcoming Chairman Li Xiannian: "China has developed production in recent years and people's living standards have improved. The United States is happy to be a friend." Today, President Obama welcomed President Xi Jinping and said: "We very much welcome China as a A world power continues to rise peacefully. We believe that a peaceful, stable and prosperous China is not only good for China, but also good for the whole world and the United States.”

28 years ago it was about "improvement of people's living standards", and 28 years later it was about "continuing the peaceful rise of a world power". This change in wording reflects the vicissitudes of China's power. During the visit 28 years ago, considering Chairman Li Xiannian’s advanced age, his activities were relatively few. However, the U.S. side had predicted that Li Peng might become Chinese Premier, so they gave Li Peng a very special courtesy and arranged a special plane and a long-term visit for him. Individual trips of up to four days.For Li Peng, one of the main purposes of this trip is to examine and learn from the experience of the United States in modernization construction. Li Peng also used this opportunity to encourage the United States to increase investment in China and transfer technology.In four days, we visited Brightwood Nuclear Power Plant, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Ford Motor Company, Mississippi River Shipping System, Hoover Dam, Rand Center, Silicon Valley, Stanford University and its industry-university-research institutions in Silicon Valley, etc. Along the way, Li Peng kept asking questions and taking notes, thinking that the United States has a lot of experience that China can learn from.Looking back on the past few years, China has learned from and learned many useful experiences from the United States and the West, and comprehensively improved our work in all aspects, but what is more valuable is that we have not lost ourselves in the process, Li Peng said during his visit Also tell those Americans who question China's political system that China adheres to "Chinese-style socialism", and on this basis, learn and learn from the United States and other countries. Twenty-eight years have passed by like a flick of a finger, but the balance of power between China and the United States has undergone tremendous changes.Two examples struck me particularly deeply. When we arrived in Chicago 28 years ago, everything felt new to us, from the highways to the superstores to the skyscrapers, it was an eye-opener for us.Li Peng met with people from the Chicago business community, the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois, hoping that the United States will invest more in China.But today, 28 years later, the situation has completely changed. China has become the largest creditor in the United States. Most states and cities in the United States are deeply in debt, and Chicago and Illinois are no exception.Today, the governors and mayors of the United States seem to be looking for opportunities to go to China, hoping that China will invest in them.Chicago Mayor Richard Michael Daley has visited China five times during his term of office. In 2010, he made a special trip to visit five cities in China to promote the "Chicago-China Friendship Project".He repeatedly emphasized that Chicago is "located in the heart of the United States" both geographically and economically, and promised to make Chicago the "most China-friendly" American city.He pushes Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Chicago, especially investment in headquarters operations, infrastructure, airport cooperation, renewable energy, wind power business, office and logistics distribution centers and other fields.He also personally experienced the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail, hoping that China can help Chicago build the high-speed rail.Mayor Daly also promoted Chinese language education in Chicago, emphasizing that "any future global leader must learn Chinese to understand China. This is even more so if Chicago is to maintain its status as an international city."During the Xi-Olympic meeting, Obama also told Xi Jinping that the United States encourages Chinese companies to invest in the United States. Another example is technology transfer. 28 years ago, Li Peng greeted me before meeting with Bush.Li Peng was very careful and said that some technical vocabulary might be involved in the meeting, so let me prepare in advance.He said he would raise the issue of U.S. easing of technology transfers to China.At that time, computers were still very new to everyone. Li Peng briefly explained the concepts of cpu and 64k to me.When meeting with Bush, Li Peng mentioned that the computer technology in the United States is developing very fast, far ahead of China, but it is a bit unreasonable to impose restrictions on technology transfer such as 64k computers.Bush did not respond directly, but said that these issues can be discussed by the relevant departments of the two sides.In fact, among Western countries, the United States has the strictest restrictions on China's technology transfer.This time Obama told Xi Jinping that the United States will take measures to relax technology transfer to China. It may not be easy for him to truly fulfill his words.Fortunately, Chinese people are very smart, hardworking and competitive. In the past 28 years, China has made rapid progress in many fields such as computer and telecommunications.China's Lenovo, which has acquired IBM's personal computer business and more recently Motorola Mobility, has become the world's largest personal computer company; China's Huawei has surpassed Ericsson to become the world's largest telecommunications infrastructure manufacturer; The 4G communication technology standard has also been accepted by the world. China has "caught up" or even "surpassed" the West in thermal power, hydropower, nuclear power, ultra-high voltage power grids, subways, high-speed rail, shipbuilding, equipment manufacturing, early warning aircraft, seabed exploration, aerospace and many other fields, and has come to the forefront of the world.Although there is still a gap between us and the United States in some areas, in general, China is catching up very quickly.Now the world is facing a new technological revolution. Compared with the previous two technological revolutions, China is much more prepared than in the previous two revolutions. In many fields, China has already been on the same starting line as Western powers.Even in areas where technology is temporarily lagging behind, China has human resources, capital accumulation and market size that are unmatched by most countries. Compared with the China-U.S. summit meeting 28 years ago, what impressed me most about this Xi-Olympic meeting was the confidence shown by Chinese leaders and the rise of Chinese discourse.Frankly speaking, over the years, in Sino-US relations, generally speaking, the United States has taken the initiative and China has been passive.This meeting reversed that trend.I once wrote in the book "China Shock" that with the rise of China, "we need a new sense of great power. A great power needs great wisdom, great strategy, and great responsibility; it needs its own right to speak; it needs a rational and calm national mentality. ; the need to reject chauvinism; the need to do a greater service to humanity".Today we already have a clear sense of major powers, and we put forward the strong discourse of "establishing a new type of major power relationship", and use this to influence the American worldview, and strive to reshape the views and expectations of the entire international community on major power relations.We discuss all issues of concern to both China and the United States from a strategic height and the perspective of the future of mankind.Our leaders are neither humble nor overbearing, rational and calm, and speak with eloquence. Xi Jinping pointed out that building a new type of major-country relationship between China and the United States is a cause "unprecedented and pioneered later."When talking about economic issues, Xi Jinping also started from the common interests of both parties and a global perspective, pointing out: "As the world's top two economies, China and the United States have formed an economic relationship with highly complementary structures and deeply intertwined interests. Sino-US cooperation not only It is beneficial to the development of the two countries and is also of great significance to the growth of the world economy. We should enhance the awareness of opportunities, win-win results, and innovation, deepen and expand bilateral economic cooperation, and strive to tap new convergence points of interests and growth points of cooperation," he said. The United States "adopts responsible macroeconomic policies" and pays attention to a series of issues such as "spillover effects of its own economic and financial policies".In short, from the changes in the format of the summit meeting to the rise of China's power and discourse, this is what I feel most deeply about the differences between the two summits 28 years ago. On the international stage, we have moved from strategic ambiguity to strategic clarity. We have fought rationally, vigorously and disciplinedly on the Diaoyu Islands issue and the South China Sea issue, and we have gained the initiative; we have defined Sino-Russian relations as "the most important A set of bilateral relations"; our naval ships also recently "visited" the exclusive economic zone of the United States; our leaders visited Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, then visited three of the United States' immediate neighbors and met in Costa Rica 8 leaders of Caribbean countries, this is really a bit like the US president first visited Laos, and met with five or six leaders of ASEAN countries, and then arrived in China to meet with Chinese leaders, and all this was done naturally, powerfully, Reasonable and restrained, it makes people feel a kind of "coolness" that has not been seen for a long time.A big country should be so confident and play cards like this, you play yours, I play mine, show your strength, responsibility, sense of proportion and rhythm; the leader of a big country should make appointments with the leaders of other big countries from time to time, In addition to talking about bilateral relations, we drank tea together, took a walk, and talked about philosophy, ideas, strategies and the future. While talking and laughing, we also gave pointers to Western countries, including the United States, so that they could reflect on their various problems in due course.The adjustment of China's strategy and diplomacy, the rise of China's discourse, the vast majority of Chinese people are happy, the vast majority of overseas Chinese are happy, and Chinese friends all over the world are happy.Today, all countries in the world regard China as a big country. Unfortunately, there are still many "big countries and small people" in our country. Today, they still think that "the moon in the United States is rounder than China", which is really ridiculous.Fortunately, the rise of China is unstoppable. As long as we continue to follow the successful path explored by China, learn from all the advantages of the West and other civilizations, and at the same time keep a clear head and never be fooled by superficial Western words, China will definitely be able to In the process of becoming number one in the world, we will make greater contributions to the peace and prosperity of mankind and the entire world.

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