"China and the United States represent the greatest economic alliance trading partnership in the history of humankind, and it is only going to grow,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said recently at the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, China.
“[The U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue] is a very important meeting and . . . we can . . . strengthen our countries, and strengthen the security relationship as well, which grows out of the economic relationship at the same time," Secretary Kerry said. “The State Department today is very clear that economic policy is foreign policy and foreign policy is economic policy.”
Thirty-five years ago, bilateral trade between China and the United States was only $2 billion. Today, bilateral trade is $500 billion and growing.
“We are in the middle of negotiating a bilateral investment treaty. We’ll want to get that completed. We want to have an intellectual/technology trade agreement. We need to make sure we’re protecting intellectual property rights; make sure we’re creating transparency in the regulatory process,” Secretary Kerry said.
It’s a world of rising expectations, but it’s also a world of rising possibilities. Nothing can define this phenomenon better than businesses.
“When half the world is still living on less than $2 a day and a large percentage of it on $1, there’s immense opportunity for growth and development,” Secretary Kerry said. “All of our people – the people of China, the people of the United States, really the people of the world – are looking for their fair opportunities . . . [We need to] make sure that we are raising the bar for everybody . . . in terms of the standards by which we do business . . . How we manage that is really what is going to define . . . this century.”
