Overseas Network 2015-09-23 06:44:19
President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle, the largest city in Washington State, USA
President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle on the 23rd and officially began his state visit to the United States. Compared with iconic American cities such as Washington, DC and New York, Seattle is not very famous, but in many ways it is the American city with the closest connection to China. Boeing aircraft, Microsoft Windows operating system, Starbucks coffee, Amazon online shopping, etc. have become a very important part of the lives of many Chinese people, and these familiar multinational companies are important symbols of the city of Seattle.
This city also has special significance for Sino-US relations. In 1979, Deng Xiaoping used Seattle as his last stop on his trip to the United States, visited Boeing in Seattle and attended a dinner held by American corporate leaders. In 1993, after several years of lows in Sino-US relations, President Jiang Zemin's first visit to the United States was to attend the APEC leaders' informal meeting held in Seattle. Seattle has therefore witnessed the "ice-breaking" move of Sino-US relations after the end of the Cold War. In 2006, President Hu Jintao's first stop in Seattle was also chosen. He also visited Boeing and attended a private banquet by Microsoft boss Bill Gates, and gathered with American business elites. These two contents will also appear on President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States this time.
It can be seen from this that it seems that the visit of Chinese leaders to Seattle has become a "convention", and Boeing has become an "old place" on the agenda of Chinese leaders' visits to the United States, and this convention will continue with President Xi's visit to the United States. According to some scholars and media, there are many reasons why President Xi regards Seattle as his first stop: for example, choosing the route from Seattle to Washington can cover the west and east coasts of the United States; after receiving visits from several Chinese leaders, Seattle and China already have a familiar friendly relationship; in addition to Boeing, today's Seattle has become the base camp of many multinational companies, especially high-tech companies, and China is vigorously developing an emerging economy represented by the Internet industry. Visiting Seattle can indicate closer economic and technological cooperation between China and the United States; finally, in 1994, President Xi Jinping promoted the establishment of friendly urban relations between Tacoma near Seattle and Fuzhou, China, and Xi Jinping will visit Tacoma Lincoln High School on this trip. For this reason, Seattle is a suitable transit place. The above specific factors can explain President Xi Jinping's consideration of Seattle as his first stop to visit the United States. But in addition to these, President Xi’s itinerary may send a clear signal in the current context of Sino-US relations, that is, China still regards cooperation as the overall situation of Sino-US relations, and economic and trade cooperation will play a more important role in stabilizing Sino-US relations.
Since the beginning of this year, there has been a fierce debate in the United States on whether to change its strategy toward China. Even some scholars who have long advocated a rational attitude towards China believe that Sino-US relations are approaching a critical node. The lack of disputes and trust between China and the United States in some fields will change the nature of Sino-US relations, and Sino-US relations will transform to competition-oriented. Under this circumstance, President Xi’s visit to the United States and contacts with American leaders and American society may become the most important factor affecting Sino-US relations in the next few years, or it will play an extremely important role in shaping Sino-US relations.
So, how should we shape Sino-US relations? It must be admitted that the disputes and differences between the two countries on some difficult issues cannot be changed in the short term. Crisis and divergence control will be an effective means. In addition to negative guarantees, more active and broader cooperation is needed between China and the United States. Continuously deepening economic and trade ties is still the only choice for China and the United States to promote bilateral relations. First of all, visiting Seattle, which has the closest economic and trade ties with China, is explaining this. In the case of cracks in Sino-US relations, the continuation of this "convention" can further demonstrate China's attitude. Although the negative problems between China and the United States are increasing, the overall situation of economic and trade cooperation has not changed, and China is trying to inject more positive energy into Sino-US relations through more in-depth economic and trade cooperation.
(Qi Hao, assistant researcher at the American Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a columnist of overseas networks)
