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March 3, 2010

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China line to US on ties: More cooperation, less containment

THERE should be more cooperation and less containment in Sino-United States relations, which suffered a "spring chill" at the beginning of 2010, a spokesman for China's top political advisory body said yesterday.

Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the third session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing.

The annual session of the top political advisory body will open this afternoon.

Zhao said since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, China-US relations had developed rapidly with the volume of bilateral trade expanding more than 100 times as well as a lot of cultural, political and economic exchanges, which benefited both sides.

US President Barack Obama seemed to have some new thinking on the relations, but two events, which happened during the first 20 days of 2010, had chilled China-US ties, said Zhao.

He was referring to the US administration's planned arms sales to Taiwan and Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama despite strong opposition from China.

"These two events damaged China's core interests," Zhao told hundreds of domestic and foreign journalists.

"Changes in China-US relations are like changes in weather, from sunny days to cloudy days, and this has aroused Chinese people's concerns."

He said Obama's Dalai Lama meeting "seriously disturbed" Sino-US relations, while the arms sales "seriously violated" three joint communiques between China and the US and harmed China's national security and cross-Strait peace and stability.

"The responsibility for the setback in Sino-US relations lies with the US side," he said. "This is like playing tennis, the US served the ball and what China did was simply strike the ball back.

"For the sake of the interests of both countries, there should be more cooperation between China and the US and less 'containment' from the US.

"The Americans need to understand that China-US relations are like a car that has two drivers instead of one. The Chinese and Americans both have wheels and brakes, so they have to discuss with each other how to drive the car forward on the right track.

"Otherwise, the car will only spin around andstay where it is."

The annual plenary session of the CPPCC National Committee will host more than 2,000 top political advisers who will make suggestions and proposals on state affairs.

Zhao said Internet giant Google's accusation that it was attacked by Chinese hackers and its insinuation against the Chinese government was "groundless and unreasonable."

He also said China's modern military forces would not pose a threat to any other country.

China's development of its military was completely for the sake of safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.

The national defense budget accounted for about 1.4 to 1.5 percent of China's gross domestic product in recent years, medium level among all countries, Zhao said.

This year's defense budget will be made public during the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, which opens on Friday.

 

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