The new momentum for peace and cooperation

Editor's note: Victor Gao, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a chair professor at Soochow University and the Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG). The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Xi-Biden summit in the Filoli Estate on the eve of the APEC gathering is generally proclaimed as a major success, both in substance and in optics, demonstrating to the world that China and the U.S., the two largest economies in the world with extraordinary global responsibilities on their shoulders, can meet and talk directly at the very top, despite of many differences and challenges.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized the need to manage their relations in a positive and constructive way, and to avoid major misjudgment and breakups. President Xi emphasized in confidence that Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed, and one country's success is an opportunity for the other.

The summit is a new turning point in China-U.S. relations with a global impact. The challenge now is to seize the moment and waste no time, and to take all the necessary steps to substantiate the points reached in principle into real action plans.

From the Chinese perspective, the most important matter is for the United States to continue to abide by the one-China principle, and to stop hollowing it out. President Xi made this point abundantly clear to President Biden in the meeting. It is encouraging to see that President Biden talked the right talk about the one-China principle and promised that the U.S. will not support "Taiwan independence." China fully expects that after President Biden talked the right talk about the one-China principle and that Taiwan region is a part of China, the United States will walk the right walk regarding the Taiwan question.

The restoration of the military-to-military communications is an important joint decision made by President Xi and President Biden in their meeting. Expectations could be made that China and the United States will demonstrate courage and vision and overcome difficulties and obstacles to pave the way for restoring the naval port calls between China and the United States. Such a major breakthrough will be a significant step in improving mutual understanding and trust between the two militaries, a significantly contribute to reducing tension and mistrust between the two militaries and the two countries. This will also reduce tension in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world as a whole.

Fundamentally, the Xi-Biden summit is a rebuke of the "Destined for War" fallacy applied to China and the United States and reinforces the belief that whatever problems may exist between China and the United States, war is not and should not be an option. Rather, the inevitability of peace should be the mega-trend for China and the United States.

On this basis, cooperation rather than competition and confrontation will be the mega-trend, propelling the China-U.S. relations to new heights, generating benefits for both the Chinese people and the American people and making the world a better and safer world for mankind as a whole.

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