By IANS,
Washington : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised the progress of US-China relations and rejected the notion that her country is attempting to contain China’s rise to prevent it from challenging US dominance.
“There is no contradiction between a rising China and the interests of the US. A rising China is good for America and a thriving America is good for China,” she said Wednesday.
Clinton was speaking at a symposium at the US Institute of Peace to mark the 40th anniversary of former US president Richard Nixon’s historic trip to China in 1972.
Over 100 current and former US government officials, experts and entrepreneurs attended the event entitled “The week that changed the world,” referring to Nixon’s stay in China. His visit not only changed the two countries, but also had a global impact.
Clinton praised the great progress China has since achieved in transforming itself from a deeply isolated and impoverished country to the second largest economy in the world, Xinhua reported.
US-China relations have flourished with China’s rapid economic development, Clinton said, as the two sides have established a “web of connections” linking each other today, compared to “only a narrow official channel” in the 1970s.
The two economies as well as their security are now “tightly intertwined,” while both are facing “shared threats” like nuclear proliferation, piracy and climate change, which require US-China cooperation to find a solution, she said.