CEFC Convenes Colloquium on Sino-US Security Relations: Chinese and US Think-Tanks Make Recommendations for Next US President
- 2016-07-01 05:15
HONG KONG, January 24th – The China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), a non-governmental think-tank with special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council, convened its ninth Sino-US Colloquium on the topic of “Sino-US Security Relations: An Agenda for the Next U.S. President.” Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, the colloquium presented recommendations on Sino-US security issues for US policy advisers and 2016 presidential candidates.
The forum drew former government officials and scholars from China and the United States, who engaged in extensive discussions on traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the Sino-US relationship. Discussions also covered prospective areas where the two countries could cooperate on security, manage differences, and achieve win-win cooperation.
The speakers covered four topics in their discussion sessions, which included “General Sino-US Security Issues,” “Security and Stability in the Western Pacific,” “Cybersecurity,” and “Cooperation on Counter-terrorism.”
Dr. Patrick Ho, Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of CEFC, presented three conceptions of the Sino-US relationship as recommendations for the 2016 US presidential candidates.
According to Dr. Ho, “China and the US have always been friends.” The two countries, said Dr. Ho, may be friendly competitors, but they are not enemies. Secondly, Dr. Ho said, the two countries “have more in common than in difference.” He urged China and the US to work together on what they have in common, and manage their differences. Thirdly, he stated that Sino-US cooperation will “benefit the whole world”, while the whole world will suffer if relations worsen.
Dr. Ho emphasized that mutual trust and respect were essential in building a meaningful Sino-US relationship. Drawing on his experience as Secretary for Home Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Dr. Ho discussed “three pillars” to developing mutual trust and respect between China and the US.
The first pillar, explained Dr. Ho, is dialogue. He stressed that “China needs to be more actively engaged with others in dialogue, to let [itself] be understood.” Dr. Ho also emphasized that “dialogue requires more than meeting in the same place. It requires listening, and caring for what the other side has to say.”
The second pillar, said Dr. Ho, is human touch, or a personalized relationship. Personal interaction, explained Dr. Ho, can help develop mutual understanding. In turn, he explained, this can help people “realize why and how the other side acted in the way it did, and took the decisions it made.”
Dr. Ho’s third pillar is common experience, which he affirmed as the “basis for true and lasting friendship.” Dr. Ho said that “the best way to alleviate international tensions and resolve political conflicts is for the parties to enter into joint projects and business ventures with one another. People should be busy making money together instead of wars, learning from each other, and collaborating to make the world a more prosperous place for all people.”
Su Ge, President of the China Institute of International Studies, reiterated Dr. Ho’s stress on cooperation. He noted that recent developments in the Sino-US relationship had yielded very rich strategic content. “The direction and strategic importance of the relationship has been actively and positively recognized. The relationship between the two countries is deepening. It is increasingly a mutually beneficial relationship, providing win-win results. The relationship of the two countries will affect the destiny of the Asia-Pacific and, indeed, the whole world.”
Gal Luft, co-Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, and a senior advisor at United States Energy Security Council, said the consequences of modern war are simply unbearable: too expensive, devastating, destructive, and horrendous for countries to consider. However, he stressed that wars often happen by miscalculation, and it will be important for China and the US to remain watchful for circumstances that increase the risk of such a situation.
Mr. Luft stressed that 50% of the economic growth in the world is generated by China and the US. If the two countries, the two main engines of global economic growth, fail to cooperate, said Mr. Luft, “the global economy will not go into a Great Recession, but a Great Depression. This is why relations matter so much today. It is not just about war and peace, but about the global economic system.”
Douglas J. Feith, former US Under-Secretary of Defense, elaborated on this point. He said that despite the differences that exist between the US and China, “both countries have enormous incentives to work out differences in a responsible, constructive way, that minimizes tensions and contradicts narratives of hostility.” War, concluded Mr. Feith, “does not serve the interest of either party.”
The colloquium, co-organized by CEFC, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and the United States Energy Security Council (USESC), gathered more than 150 participants from a variety of countries.
Guest speakers in attendance included: Robert C. McFarlane, former US national security advisor and co-founder of USESC; Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; R. James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Anne Korin, co-director of IAGS and also a senior advisor at USESC; Thomas Parker, former special advisor for National Security to US Vice President Richard Cheney; Jia Qingguo, member of the Standing Committee for the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and dean and professor of the School of International Studies, Peking University; Teng Jianqun, director of the Department for American Studies, China Institute of International Studies; Zhang Xin, director of CEFC, general manager of China International Group Corporation Ltd.; Jin Canrong, associate dean and professor of School of International Studies, Renmin University of China; Zhang Tuosheng, chairman of the Academic Committee and director of the Center for Foreign Policy Studies, China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies; Shen Yi, associate professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University.
This is the ninth Sino-US Colloquium in a series organized by the CEFC since 2012, held alternatingly in Hong Kong and Washington D.C. The colloquium aims to establish lasting dialogue mechanisms through non-governmental channels. Previous themes have included Asian Energy Security Cooperation: Challenges and Opportunities, A Trialogue with Japan, Core Values and World Order, The Role of Media in Building a New Type of Major-Country Relations, and Beyond the Current Distrust.
The forum drew former government officials and scholars from China and the United States, who engaged in extensive discussions on traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the Sino-US relationship. Discussions also covered prospective areas where the two countries could cooperate on security, manage differences, and achieve win-win cooperation.
The speakers covered four topics in their discussion sessions, which included “General Sino-US Security Issues,” “Security and Stability in the Western Pacific,” “Cybersecurity,” and “Cooperation on Counter-terrorism.”
Dr. Patrick Ho, Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of CEFC, presented three conceptions of the Sino-US relationship as recommendations for the 2016 US presidential candidates.
According to Dr. Ho, “China and the US have always been friends.” The two countries, said Dr. Ho, may be friendly competitors, but they are not enemies. Secondly, Dr. Ho said, the two countries “have more in common than in difference.” He urged China and the US to work together on what they have in common, and manage their differences. Thirdly, he stated that Sino-US cooperation will “benefit the whole world”, while the whole world will suffer if relations worsen.
Dr. Ho emphasized that mutual trust and respect were essential in building a meaningful Sino-US relationship. Drawing on his experience as Secretary for Home Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Dr. Ho discussed “three pillars” to developing mutual trust and respect between China and the US.
The first pillar, explained Dr. Ho, is dialogue. He stressed that “China needs to be more actively engaged with others in dialogue, to let [itself] be understood.” Dr. Ho also emphasized that “dialogue requires more than meeting in the same place. It requires listening, and caring for what the other side has to say.”
The second pillar, said Dr. Ho, is human touch, or a personalized relationship. Personal interaction, explained Dr. Ho, can help develop mutual understanding. In turn, he explained, this can help people “realize why and how the other side acted in the way it did, and took the decisions it made.”
Dr. Ho’s third pillar is common experience, which he affirmed as the “basis for true and lasting friendship.” Dr. Ho said that “the best way to alleviate international tensions and resolve political conflicts is for the parties to enter into joint projects and business ventures with one another. People should be busy making money together instead of wars, learning from each other, and collaborating to make the world a more prosperous place for all people.”
Su Ge, President of the China Institute of International Studies, reiterated Dr. Ho’s stress on cooperation. He noted that recent developments in the Sino-US relationship had yielded very rich strategic content. “The direction and strategic importance of the relationship has been actively and positively recognized. The relationship between the two countries is deepening. It is increasingly a mutually beneficial relationship, providing win-win results. The relationship of the two countries will affect the destiny of the Asia-Pacific and, indeed, the whole world.”
Gal Luft, co-Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, and a senior advisor at United States Energy Security Council, said the consequences of modern war are simply unbearable: too expensive, devastating, destructive, and horrendous for countries to consider. However, he stressed that wars often happen by miscalculation, and it will be important for China and the US to remain watchful for circumstances that increase the risk of such a situation.
Mr. Luft stressed that 50% of the economic growth in the world is generated by China and the US. If the two countries, the two main engines of global economic growth, fail to cooperate, said Mr. Luft, “the global economy will not go into a Great Recession, but a Great Depression. This is why relations matter so much today. It is not just about war and peace, but about the global economic system.”
Douglas J. Feith, former US Under-Secretary of Defense, elaborated on this point. He said that despite the differences that exist between the US and China, “both countries have enormous incentives to work out differences in a responsible, constructive way, that minimizes tensions and contradicts narratives of hostility.” War, concluded Mr. Feith, “does not serve the interest of either party.”
The colloquium, co-organized by CEFC, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and the United States Energy Security Council (USESC), gathered more than 150 participants from a variety of countries.
Guest speakers in attendance included: Robert C. McFarlane, former US national security advisor and co-founder of USESC; Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; R. James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Anne Korin, co-director of IAGS and also a senior advisor at USESC; Thomas Parker, former special advisor for National Security to US Vice President Richard Cheney; Jia Qingguo, member of the Standing Committee for the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and dean and professor of the School of International Studies, Peking University; Teng Jianqun, director of the Department for American Studies, China Institute of International Studies; Zhang Xin, director of CEFC, general manager of China International Group Corporation Ltd.; Jin Canrong, associate dean and professor of School of International Studies, Renmin University of China; Zhang Tuosheng, chairman of the Academic Committee and director of the Center for Foreign Policy Studies, China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies; Shen Yi, associate professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University.
This is the ninth Sino-US Colloquium in a series organized by the CEFC since 2012, held alternatingly in Hong Kong and Washington D.C. The colloquium aims to establish lasting dialogue mechanisms through non-governmental channels. Previous themes have included Asian Energy Security Cooperation: Challenges and Opportunities, A Trialogue with Japan, Core Values and World Order, The Role of Media in Building a New Type of Major-Country Relations, and Beyond the Current Distrust.