China US Photo:VCG

 
East China's Shanghai city and the US state of California signed on Sunday a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on climate and the environment during California Governor Gavin Newsom's visit to China, in order to enhance cooperation on environmental protection, climate change response and clean energy development.

Chinese experts said that Newsom's trip to various Chinese cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong and Yancheng of East China's Jiangsu showed the great potential of cooperation between the two countries in the fields of green development and environmental protection. Win-win China-US relationships will yield more positive benefits than the US zero-sum game, they noted.

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with Newsom on Sunday, saying that as China's largest economic hub, Shanghai is an important bridge for friendly exchanges between China and the US. As early as in 1980, Shanghai and the city of San Francisco became friendship cities and have developed fruitful cooperation in many areas.

California's economy ranks first among all US states, and we warmly welcome more Californian enterprises to participate in the China International Import Expo, and look forward to practical cooperation between the two places focusing on information technology, biomedicine, intelligent manufacturing and other fields, and supporting and encouraging enterprises to invest in each other's businesses to realize common development, Gong noted.

We hope that the two places will deepen mutual learning in the areas of environmental protection, green energy, harbor emission reduction, offshore wind energy and other areas of green and low-carbon development, so as to promote higher-quality and more sustainable development, Gong continued.

Newsom said that California and Shanghai have many similarities, with each specializing in areas such as biopharmaceuticals, information technology, artificial intelligence and higher education, and sharing similar ambitions and visions for advancing a green and low-carbon transition.

There is a strong need for California and Shanghai to strengthen cooperation in the areas of environmental protection and climate change, in the hope that together, the two places can advance the green transition and lead the world, Newsom noted. "I am proud of this cooperation at the local level and the signing of the MOU, and California is ready to be a strong and stable partner for Shanghai."

By visiting a number of leading Chinese cities in the field of new energy, Newsom can help more US politicians and businesspeople to understand China's true level of development, which is different from the stereotypes created by some Western media outlets, laying the foundation for subsequent cooperation, Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Shanghai was Newsom's sixth stop in China. On Tuesday, the governor visited Shenzhen, where he learned about bus electrification and took a test ride in U8, a state-of-the-art sport utility vehicle made by Chinese electric carmaker BYD.

On Saturday, the Californian governor arrived in Yancheng city of Jiangsu, visiting a factory of local wind power enterprise operated by Goldwind Co and its offshore wind turbines. He also visited a red-crowned crane reserve and named a crane "California," which means across the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, Jiangsu and California have another ambassador of friendship.

"From BYD to Goldwind Co, Newsom's visit showed his focus on the huge potential for cooperation with China in the field of new energy to achieve green development, and collaboration between China and the US in areas like energy conservation and emission reduction can also contribute to the early realization of the dual-carbon goal for all mankind," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Newsom's visit to a number of Chinese companies is a sign that some US politicians are noticing the advantages of developing a healthy relationship with China. In the face of the global climate problem, benign win-win cooperation between the two countries produces much greater positive benefits than the US zero-sum game, Li noted.

Wang also noted that whether at the level of the central or federal government or local governments, China and the US need more communication and exchanges, so as to achieve more pragmatic cooperation and reduce misunderstanding, to truly realize mutual benefits and win-win results.

"Uncertainty of the US government's policy toward China is a major concern for US companies investing in China. I believe without restrictions and interventions from the US government, more [new-energy-related] American companies will come to China as the Chinese market is stable and predictable," Li noted.