Journalists attend a press conference of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, South China's Hainan Province, on March 25, 2025. This year's meeting is expected to draw about 2,000 delegates from more than 60 countries and regions and more than 1,100 journalists from about 30 countries and regions. Photo: VCG
During the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 held in Boao, South China's Hainan Province, a sub-forum attracted notable attention on Thursday. Centered on how US foreign policy affects Asia-Pacific cooperation, the venue of the sub-forum was filled to capacity, with attendees standing throughout the event. At the core of discussion was a shared focus on restoring China-US relations to a path of peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Speaking at the forum, Zhou Wenzhong, a former vice foreign minister of China, former Chinese ambassador to the US and former secretary-general of the BFA, emphasized that China's guiding principle toward the US remains win-win cooperation. "Confrontation and conflict should not be China's choice," Zhou said.
Trade between China and the US has been on the rise. In 2024, bilateral trade reached $688.28 billion, a 3.7 percent increase year-on-year, according to data released by China's General Administration of Customs. The trade figure indicates that US demand for Chinese exports is, in many respects, indispensable, Zhou said.
"If not from China, where else could the US import from? The US government needs to consider this carefully," Zhou added.
The forum attracted several prominent US participants, including former US secretary of commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Jeffrey Sachs, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. While acknowledging existing differences between China and the US, they opposed unilateral practices such as trade wars or tariff wars, warning these measures could harm not only the interests of both nations but also global stability.
Gutierrez noted the current US administration's intention to move "closer to China," adding that the US government sees an opportunity to realize a grand agreement, and hold negotiations and dialogue between China and the US, that could establish a new starting point for bilateral relations.
China has long advocated for stable, healthy and sustainable relations with the US, and that stance has not changed, Cui Tiankai, a former vice foreign minister of China and former Chinese ambassador to the US, said at the forum.
"If the US can move toward China in a similar spirit, I believe the two countries can find lots of common ground," Cui noted.
Some observers said that the future of China-US relations rests in the hands of their people, and strengthening cultural and people-to-people exchanges among citizens of both nations are crucial. In recent years, China has organized a series of activities to welcome participants from all walks of life in the US to visit China.
This is the essence of building a prosperous and harmonious relationship between China and the US, Sourabh Gupta, senior Asia-Pacific international relations policy specialist at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington, DC told the Global Times on the sidelines of the forum.
People-to-people exchanges between China and the US are pivotal. Governmental interaction has its limits, but lasting friendship ultimately hinges on mutual understanding between the two peoples, and that is the reason why cultural and people-to-people exchanges have infinite potential, Gupta said. Especially at a delicate moment in bilateral relations, we need robust public-level connections to form the bedrock of stability, he added.
When asked by the Global Times about prospects for upcoming China-US engagement, Zhou responded, "Our position is crystal clear. The key is for the US side to uphold equality and mutual respect."
Global Times
