Amy Celico, Former Senior Director for China Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative talked to CGTN Europe on China-US business cooperation.
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00:00 Come back and invest in China again. President Xi Jinping's message to global CEOs as he promised to deepen market reforms
00:07 to improve the country's business environment.
00:11 He's been meeting US business leaders and academics in Beijing. The group includes the bosses of Blackstone, Qualcomm,
00:17 Bloomberg, who's also the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
00:21 Beijing recently eased restrictions on foreign investment after it fell to a 30-year low.
00:28 Well, Amy Sellecko heads the China office at the business strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group.
00:35 She's also a former senior director for China Affairs at the office of the US Trade Representative.
00:41 Well, I think it's terrific
00:45 that American CEOs were invited by President Xi to stay behind after the recent meeting of the
00:52 China Development Forum for him to relay to
00:57 business executives, academics
00:59 involved in US-China relations that indeed the Chinese government wants to encourage
01:05 American companies to remain, to expand in the China market. That is welcome
01:11 information to American executives.
01:14 And I think it follows on the very positive meeting that President Xi had last November in San Francisco
01:22 when he met with many of these same executives
01:26 and said that localizing foreign investment, particularly American investment in China, is a good thing for the overall bilateral relationship.
01:34 So I'm encouraged by what sounds to have been a very positive meeting.
01:38 It might be generous to describe the current relationship as spiky.
01:44 I mean, given the rather tense geopolitical environment,
01:48 realistically, what are the outcomes from this? How will we know that it's been a success?
01:55 When will we know that it's been a success?
01:57 Well, Jamie, I think we have to put this one meeting in the context of the overall relationship
02:05 and what else the US and China are doing to try to stabilize,
02:10 yes, what indeed is a contentious and
02:13 competitive relationship. So just a few hours prior to President Xi
02:20 meeting those American executives and
02:24 academics and
02:26 and those who are promoting US-China
02:28 exchange, the Deputy Secretary of State, Kirk Campbell,
02:33 tweeted that he had had a
02:36 conversation with his counterpart, the Vice Foreign Minister,
02:40 indeed to discuss continuing to stabilize US-China relations, a relationship
02:47 the Deputy Secretary of State
02:49 characterized as one of competition, but one that requires
02:53 continued coordination in order to maintain stability in the overall relationship.
03:00 All of these dialogues are critically important so that the US-China
03:05 relationship, as spiky as it will continue to be, can remain stable and not a source of
03:13 instability on the global stage.
03:15 The warmth that you describe sounds very heartening. Does it survive a forthcoming
03:21 US election and perhaps a change of
03:26 governance come the EU
03:28 elections in June?
03:31 Indeed, China is interested in maintaining stable relationships with the United States,
03:36 with the member states of the European Union and indeed other countries of import as well.
03:42 I will say I wouldn't characterize US-China relations as particularly warm right now,
03:48 but I do think it's a good sign that
03:51 Americans in government and out of government are meeting with Chinese counterparts.
03:57 It means that both in Beijing and in Washington, DC,
04:01 there is a premium being placed on the importance of
04:04 dialogue to manage difficult issues as well as find areas of cooperation.