CRI听力:Former US treasury chiefs highlight global impact of US-China ties

Four former U.S. Treasury secretaries have gathered in New York to discuss key economic issues between the United States and China.

Werner Michael Blumenthal, Robert Rubin, Timothy Geithner and Jacob Lew gathered in New York City for the event hosted by the National Committee on U.S-China Relations.

Looking back on the reforms made by China and a series of bilateral cooperation deals during their terms in office, the guests agreed that China has become increasingly involved in the international community and is contributing more to global affairs.

"I think if the U.S and China had not moved forward together in the conversations on climate change, it would have been virtually impossible to get to the Paris Agreement and to have Paris go to effect. Remarkable bilateral cooperation, as Bob said, it was the U.S.-China relationship that pulled the world along," said Jacob Lew.

While U.S. and China have joined hands to tackle international problems of common interests, disagreements on issues such as the Renminbi exchange rate and concerns of trade protectionism still exist.

The guests agreed that the US must stick to a mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship, especially when China's investment in the United States has been on the rise in recent years.

"If the Chinese holders of capital want to provide enormous amount of capital to the United States, and therefore make capital more readily available to this country to promote economic growth. I think that's wonderful for us," commented Robert Rubin.

China's official data showed bilateral trade surged from 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 1979 to over 519 billion dollars in 2016, an increase of more than 200-fold.

The discussion also involved the future prospects of bilateral relationships after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January this year.

Werner Michael Blumenthal said healthy Sino-US relationships should be strengthened.

"Ever since, Richard Nixon in the early 70s, the importance of establishing a strong relationship between the U.S. and China, and working hard to make that happen, has been a bipartisan matter. Within that, a very important bipartisan understanding about the critical importance of the relationship between the two countries. And what that means and how that needs to be nourished and handled carefully, and with understanding, I hope that continues in the next four years," said Blumenthal.

"We have tough issues to work out together. They are very complicated issues, they require a lot of definiteness and patience, and there's going to be a lot of friction, tension and that sort of things. So it's important to make sure you preserve space for a more subsumption and a deeper conversation," said Timothy Geithner.

Despite the frictions and differences between the two, the four speakers agreed that it is all the more important for China and the United States to communicate, coordinate and cooperate closely for the sake of global stability.