U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (R) speaks next to Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) Joint Opening Session at the State Department in Washington July 10, 2013.
“The dynamic that emerges between [the United States and China] will ... have a significant impact on the entire world.”
“The dynamic that emerges between [the United States and China] will affect not just our peoples, but . . . have a significant impact on the entire world,” U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said at the fifth round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue held recently in Washington, D.C.
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Biden On U.S. - China Dialogue
“Our relationship is and will continue to be . . . a mix of competition and cooperation,” Vice President Biden said. “Competition can be good . . . and cooperation is essential . . . If the game is fair and healthy, political and economic competition can . . . marshal the best energies of both our societies. This mix places an added burden on both of us . . . We will have our disagreements . . . But if we are straightforward, clear, and predictable with one another, we can find solutions.”
“I believe that history offers both [the United States and China] some lessons,” Vice President Biden continued. “History shows that prosperity is greatest when governments allow not just the free exchange of goods but the free exchange of ideas . . . in the long run, greater openness, transparency, respect for universal rights, actually is a source of national and international stability.”
“It’s understandable that China wants to be involved in international rules-setting . . . but is [wary] about taking [on] additional international burdens,” Vice President Biden pointed out. “The two go hand in hand, because in 2013, the world’s environment and rule-based economic order cannot sustain an exception the size of China.”
“I first visited China in 1976 as a young senator . . . I believed then and I believe now . . . [that China’s] rise would be and is good for America and the world,” Vice President Biden said. “The greatest cause for optimism is . . . when our people come together. We see a lot of ourselves in each other – a striving entrepreneurial spirit, [and] optimism about the future.”
“Mechanisms like the Strategic and Economic Dialogue play an important role in managing our complex relationship,” Vice President Biden said in conclusion. “If together we get it right, we can leave behind a much better future for our children and . . . for the world.”
