Interview: U.S. should find areas "of cooperation, not of conflict" with China, says expert

NEW YORK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States should find areas "of cooperation, not of conflict" in its relations with China, a U.S. expert has said.

China is actually "a responsible stakeholder in the global community," Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

China is a productive member of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "With efforts like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China is building upon the existing global system," he said.

"The focus of (U.S.) defense and strategic programs should be on finding areas of cooperation, not of conflict," Orlins said.

China has made it clear that it wants healthy and win-win trade cooperation with the United States, but recent months have indicated that the latter has other ideas.

Orlins said that whether in the recent national security strategy document, the national defense strategy, or the U.S. Trade Representative's report to Congress, "the portrayals of China and of U.S.-China relations in these documents lack context."

"The positive aspects of this relationship were ignored," he said.

For example, Orlins said, "China's WTO (World Trade Organization) accession allowed Americans' quality of life to improve."

With China joining the WTO, Americans with lower incomes were able to save 1,000 to 1500 U.S. dollars a year on purchasing basic household items from shoes to televisions, Orlins said. "They can live better. Where is that in this (trade) document?"

"Is there a trade deficit? Yes, but the bilateral trade deficit is based upon issues that are not addressed in this document," Orlins said.

The expert emphasized that these numbers are not the whole picture.

Economists believe that the trade deficit and national savings rates are inversely related. Through national accounting identities, a country's trade balance can also be expressed as the differences between national savings and investment.

"Where's the discussion of savings rates in China and the United States (in this document)?" Orlins said.

The United States' net national saving rates -- the sum of saving both in the private and public sectors -- stood at just 2.1 percent of national income in the third quarter of 2017.

"When you have a savings deficit like you do in the United States you must have a trade deficit. You must import goods and capital to make up for that," Orlins said. Enditem