Exclusive | China, US cannot afford depopulating the relationship, American ambassador Nicholas Burns says

“The people-to-people trade is the ballast to maintain the connection steady,” Burns stated, in an unique interview with the South China Morning Submit. “Our two governments have a aggressive and contested relationship, however on the people-to-people stage, it’s actually essential that we keep related.”

Throughout their first face-to-face summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022, Xi and Biden agreed to develop “constructive relations”.

However the goodwill was short-lived after the US found an alleged spy balloon from China in its airspace. Beijing stated the balloon was supposed for civilian functions and had entered US airspace by chance, however the incident deflated the connection to a brand new low.

The leaders’ summit in San Francisco was broadly considered the most important guardrail in opposition to a seamless downward spiral in bilateral relations.

Xi-Biden summit hit pause on troubled US-China relations: analysts

“It can be crucial for us to proceed the momentum [after the San Francisco summit] so we don’t get knocked off the course once more. The secret’s to maintain the 2 governments and the senior officers in shut communication,” Burns stated.

Whereas sustaining official channels is crucial, Burns stated individuals trade between the 2 sides is essential. He stated the pandemic brought about a pointy drop in people-to-people contact in any respect ranges.

China remained America’s largest supply of international college students this 12 months, however the numbers have dropped considerably over the previous three years.

Each international locations additionally agreed to considerably improve direct flights from subsequent 12 months, to facilitate exchanges and enterprise journey.

“Earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic, we had [a total of] 345 flights per week. That quantity dropped to 12 at one level, and now it’s 70,” Burns stated.

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Xi Jinping, Joe Biden maintain talks on sidelines of Apec summit to ease strained US-China ties

Xi Jinping, Joe Biden maintain talks on sidelines of Apec summit to ease strained US-China ties

Chinese language scholar enrolments within the US – which as soon as stood at practically half 1,000,000 a 12 months – dropped under 300,000 in 2022, in line with the Institute of Worldwide Training.

There are far fewer American college students in China at the moment than earlier than the pandemic, Burns stated.

“We can not have the following technology of American college students not learn about China and never converse Mandarin. In any other case, we’ll really feel the influence in 20 to 30 years. We want extra younger individuals to know China. We have to recruit people who find themselves China specialists.”

Concerning Xi’s aim to have 50,000 American college students come to China over the following 5 years, the veteran diplomat stated that “it might take time to get there, however it’s encouraging to listen to that”.

Variety of Individuals finding out in mainland China falls sharply

Whereas Washington needs to work with Beijing to restore the connection, Burns stated the US would proceed to talk out on human rights points.

“Human rights and democracy are essential to america. President Biden raised the problem of Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong with President Xi on the summit assembly,” Burns stated.

“We can’t be silenced on these points because the US stands for human rights and freedoms. That is core to our identification.”

Xi and Biden clear ‘low bar for fulfillment’ however larger hurdles loom

Likewise, the US wouldn’t carry its funding restrictions and sanctions on superior chip know-how to China, he stated.

“We’re not going to apologise for these [export] controls and restrictions … Such delicate applied sciences, like synthetic intelligence, could possibly be used to assist the Folks’s Liberation Military to develop its capabilities.

“Nationwide safety is non-negotiable.”