Sub-National Contacts Deepen China-U.S. Relations

The fourth China-U.S. Relations Seminar co-sponsored by China and the U.S opened in October 2009, with Li Xiaolin, vice president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), presiding.

By staff reporter HOU RUILI

DURING President Hu Jintao's state visit to the U.S. in January, China and the U.S. signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing China-U.S. Governors Forum to Promote Sub-national Cooperation. The memorandum supports the establishment of a China-U.S. Governors Forum by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the National Governors Association (NGA) of the U.S. This forum aims to provide an important platform of communication between U.S state governors and provincial governors in China, and advance practical cooperation in trade, investment, energy, environment, culture and other fields.

Direct Dialogue Between Sub-national Leaders

The China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue is a forum for national governments, while the China-U.S. Governors Forum is a communication platform for local governments. Li Xiaolin, vice president of the CPAFFC, remarked, "As a non-governmental organization, the CPAFFC has conducted many exchanges with U.S. organizations such as the Southern Governors Association and the Midwestern Governors Association and established some long-term partnerships. This China-U.S. Governors Forum covers a wide range of fields for cooperation at quite a high level. Given direct communication, the two sides can discuss emerging problems, which is a win-win situation for both countries. There are lots of differences between the two in history, culture and political systems. With the development of its economy, China has got much closer to the world, which prompts us to look for common ground with other countries. How to go about this? People-to-people exchange provides a way. This gubernatorial contact mechanism is an innovation, providing a platform for U.S. governors to communicate with their counterparts in China in a more direct and effective way."

On February 26, Zhou Qiang, secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, and Li Xiaolin attended the signing ceremony to launch the forum in Washington.

Hunan Province has established sister province/state or sister city ties with 11 American cities and states. In recent years, five U.S.-based corporations listed in the world's top 500 companies have invested in Hunan. "As far as Hunan is concerned, in cooperation with U.S. states and cities, our top priority is to bring Hunan's industrial advantages into full play, and meanwhile advance the development of our hi-tech industry by learning from U.S experience and success in this field. Specifically, we hope industries like manufacturing, auto making and wind power generation expand their cooperation with states in the U.S. We also wish to push forward the development of such industries as electronic information, energy and new materials by learning from American experience with pushing the development of their hi-tech industry, and in developing electronic information, smart grid and new energies," said Zhou Qiang.

During his stay in the U.S., Zhou attended the NGA Winter Meeting, and held bilateral talks with six state governors. Zhou confirmed, "We signed a memorandum of cooperation with Nevada, and reached agreement on advancing cooperation in such fields as education, economy, trade, science and technology, culture and tourism with five other states, achieving concrete results. Hunan will send business delegations to those states, by invitation of their governors. The governors also indicated their intention to visit Hunan to promote business-to-business communication and strengthen cooperation in the field of education."

According to Reta Jo Lewis, special representative for global intergovernmental affairs at the State Department, prior to the setting up of the China-U.S. Governors Forum, communication between local governments of both sides had been ongoing for 10 years. In 2010 alone, there were more than 110 exchange visits between various levels of local governments. To date, twinning arrangements have been made between 36 state-province pairs and 161 city pairs.

Despite the frequency of local government exchanges, the communications were often one-off, irregular and lacking a fixed platform and mechanism. The China-U.S. Governors Forum will provide that, so that regular communications between local governments of our two countries can be realized.

Li Xiaolin said, "We hope to promote cooperation and enhance mutual understanding between local governments via this platform. For the first session of the China-U.S. Governors Forum, taking place in Utah in July, we will invite five provincial Party secretaries and governors representing different parts of China. Many governors, from eastern coastal areas to western inland regions alike, have expressed an interest in being there."

"We'd like to highlight several topics from among the many hot issues of common concern, like employment, education, medical care, economic cooperation and complementarity. We'll discuss details with the NGA so as to make the forum a success. Next year we hope to welcome a visit by U.S. governors organized by the NGA and make the forum an annual event. This platform will allow both sides to communicate effectively about common concerns, which will benefit both China's development and U.S. economic recovery," she added.

Victims of Trade Friction Lobby U.S. Congress

President Obama declared on September 11, 2009 that the U.S. would take special protection measures against tires imported from China. The original tariff of 4 percent would be subject to additional tariffs over the next three years: 35 percent in the first year, 30 percent in the second and 25 percent in the third. This would spell the disappearance of Chinese tires from the U.S market.

According to preliminary statistics gathered by the China Rubber Industry Association, withdrawal of Chinese tires from the U.S. market would affect the jobs of about 100,000 Chinese workers.