Xu Xueyuan, Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of China in the United States, delivered the keynote speech at the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA 2023 Lunar New Year of the Rabbit Gala in New York on Wednesday January 18.

In her speech at the annual economic and trade event for Chinese and US business communities, Xu encouraged Chinese and US companies to promote their countries' economic and trade cooperation.

Xu Xueyuan, Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of China in the United States. (Photo provided by Chinese Embassy in United States)

In a press release of Xu's speech posted online on Thursday by the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, she listed the two countries' economic and trade cooperation achievements and said an accurate understanding of China-US economic and trade relations required an "objective and rational view of shared interests."

"China-US trade is highly complementary," Xu was quoted as saying. "Even with the trade frictions in recent years, the two-way trade from January to November 2022 still approached $700 billion and the momentum of growth is continuing.

"China-US trade is mutually beneficial and the American economy, businesses and consumers are all beneficiaries."

All 50 US states export goods and services to China, benefiting nearly 1 million US jobs, especially agricultural states which export soybeans, corn, sorghum, beef and pork, Xu said, citing the US-China Business Council, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of over 280 American companies that do business with China.

Mutual respect would lay the foundation for sound interactions between China and the United States, she said.

"Our economic and trade cooperation should follow economic laws and abide by international economic and trade rules," Xu said.

Section 301 tariffs, industrial subsidies, investment barriers and export controls were "detrimental to both sides and should not continue," the charge d'affaires said.

"In particular, decoupling and supplies cutoff in the high-tech industry may hurt China in the short term, but in the long run, the United States will suffer more," she said. "China will not stop just because the United States is trying to bring us down. Instead, China will rely on ourselves and do our best for development.

"The US will only create a strong competitor for itself."