Asia-Pacific Region Should Be an “Inclusive Big Platform for Cooperation,” Says Xi Jinping

Addressing the June 6-7, Eighth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED) taking place in Beijing, host President Xi Jinping laid out the task before the world’s two largest economies. Xi said the nations should cultivate mutual trust and cooperation and take part in regular talks.

“The fundamental thing is the two sides should stick to the principles of no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” he said, South China Morning Post reported Monday.

Alluding to the increasingly hostile posture of the Obama administration vis-à-vis China, Xi said that “there is no reason to be scared of having differences, the key is not to adopt a confrontational attitude towards any differences,” according to SCMP. “Some differences can be solved through endeavor, and both sides should work harder to solve them. Some differences cannot be solved at the moment, and both sides should take each other’s actual situations into consideration and take a constructive approach.”

In contrast to Xi’s appeal to work together and make the Asia-Pacific a “big platform for cooperation,” the Obama administration made it a point to use this annual forum to accuse China as its only agenda. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew dedicated his speech to pressing China “to reduce excess production capacity that its trading partners complain is driving a flood of low-cost steel into their markets, threatening thousands of jobs,” reported SCMP, then quoting Lew harping on, “Excess capacity has a distorting and damaging effect on global markets and implementing policies to substantially reduce production in a range of sectors suffering from overcapacity, including steel and aluminum, is critical to the function and stability of international markets.”