Remarks By
Robert D. Hormats
Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment
Remarks at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center
Nanjing, China
December 6, 2012
It’s a special privilege to be here at the Hopkins Nanjing Center, which has played such an important role in promoting mutual understanding between the United States and China. And there’s no better time to be here than just three weeks after Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping stated in his first speech that: “China needs to learn more about the world, and the world also needs to learn more about China. I hope you will continue to make efforts and contributions to deepening the mutual understanding between China and the countries of the world.”
Chairman Xi’s message is directed squarely at those of you in this room – the future leaders of the United States and China who will contribute to enhancing mutual understanding in the future. And it is not unlike the message my generation responded to when President Nixon in his historic visit to China 40 years ago upheld “the hope that each of us has to build a new world order in which nations and peoples with different systems and different values can live together in peace, respecting one another while disagreeing with one another, letting history rather than the battlefield be the judge of their different ideas.”
As some of you know, I served on Henry Kissinger’s National Security Council staff during that period, and I have worked over the past 40 years in government service and the private sector to try to promote enhanced U.S.-China economic relations. And I now see our two countries on the verge of a new era in our bilateral economic relationship – one when we can explore new possibilities for “mutual benefit” and “win-win cooperation.”
At the same point, however, there are significant challenges that will need to be overcome in the U.S.-China economic relationship. And it will be up to all of you in this audience to navigate sometimes difficult waters in order to ensure shared prosperity over the next 40 years.
I want to share a few thoughts with you today about the current state of the bilateral economic relationship, as well as some views on the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Progress in U.S.-China Economic Relations
China’s stunning economic growth over the past three decades has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty and thrust China into global markets as the second-largest economy and world’s leading exporter. China’s foreign trade has grown over six-fold since joining the WTO in 2001, due in large part to its “Going Out” strategy, which was launched in 1999 to encourage investment abroad. The United States welcomes a strong, prosperous, and successful China that plays a key role in world affairs and adheres to international standards. And we are counting on China’s leadership to help meet the many challenges confronting the global economy. It is worth noting that when President Nixon first visited China forty years ago, the U.S.-China economic relationship was nonexistent. China’s economic policies were of little or no consequence to our domestic economy – nor did our economic policies have any effect on theirs.
Today the situation is very different.
In 2011, the United States imported $399 billion in goods from China and exported $103 billion to China – a nearly four-fold increase in imports and a five-fold increase in exports in the 10 years since China joined the WTO in 2001. And while the United States and China share many common interests – and the relationship has produced a number of mutual benefits – we must also recognize the several areas on which our positions diverge and where we do not prioritize the same values. What drove growth in China over the past 40 years is not likely to drive it over the next 40 years, so to address differences, and build on common interests, our economic relations over the next 40 years may need to be framed differently than in the past 40 years. Importantly, we must identify areas where U.S. interests and China’s interests converge.
