China-U.S.common interests far outweigh differences no matter how U.S. leadership changes: Chinese official

The common interests between China and the United States far outweigh their differences no matter how the leadership changes in the U.S., a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.

"Our two countries enjoy a high degree of complementarity in our economic cooperation, which has brought tangible benefits to our business communities and to our two peoples. These realities will not be changed by the (U.S. presidential) election," Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce told Xinhua at a press briefing for the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) held here.

Zhang said he felt strongly that business communities on the both sides have a strong desire to deepen economic cooperation between the two countries and this will not be changed either, after attending the JCCT and other trade events over the past several days.

"No matter how the leadership changes in the United States, the shared interests of our two countries far outweigh our differences," he said, noting that bilateral trade between China and the U.S. reached 558.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an increase of 228 times from 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Zhang said it's "quite normal" for China and the U.S. to "have some frictions and differences" as the world' s two largest economies expand the scale of economic and trade cooperation and their interests become more intertwined.

But the two sides need to work together to resolve their disparities and "take a constructive approach" in managing those differences that cannot be resolved by the two countries, he said.

Zhang stressed that China has "paid close attention" to the remarks made by U.S. President-elect Trump during the presidential campaign, particularly his remarks on the U.S.-China economic and trade relations, and that China is also "closely observing" what he will do after he takes office.

Responding to a question about Trump's proposals to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports, Zhang said Trump will be reminded that the United States" should honor its obligations" at the World Trade Organization (WTO) after he moves into the White House.

China, as a member of the WTO, has also the right to defend its rights and interests in accordance with the WTO rules, he added.

Zhang said he's "confident" that China is capable of dealing with these issues and that China has good dialogue mechanisms with the U.S. administration on economic and trade policies to ensure that their relations will move forward "on a healthy track" .

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the U.S., and plays an important role in China-U.S. economic cooperation and addressing economic and trade frictions. Enditem