40th Anniversary Round Up

Jimmy Carter: Trump should form advisory panel on China

By AP NEWS Atlanta — Jan 18, 2019

Summary

At the Carter Center’s Symposium on the 40th Anniversary of Normalization, former President Jimmy Carter offered experienced advice to the current U.S. Administration on maintaining relations with China. The former President referenced his time as president and the experience of building relations with Japan. He mentioned that he relied upon a group of scholars, former diplomats, and experts for advice on better understanding and building upon the U.S. – Japan relationship. During the symposium, President Carter reiterated that normalizing relations with China remains one of the top accomplishments of his time in office.

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Spotlight: U.S., China urged to build on their 40 years of diplomatic ties

By XINHUA News Agency — Jan 18, 2019

Summary

To commemorate the forty-year anniversary of the establishment of full U.S.-China diplomatic ties, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter spoke last Friday at the Carter Center on the major accomplishments that have occurred because of this normalization of relations, in addition to acknowledging his thanks to former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. President Carter also spoke about the areas where further U.S.-China cooperation would be beneficial, such as working together to address the economic and social challenges of less-developed countries, as well as working to permanently denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, and former acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Susan Thornton, also spoke on the significant progress in worldwide peace and stability due to the bilateral relationship and encouraged even deeper productive collaboration.

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Jimmy Carter, Chinese ambassador mark 40 years of China-U.S. diplomacy

By CGTN — Jan 19, 2019

Summary

On the second day of the 40th Anniversary Symposium, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, along with former President Jimmy Carter and Madame Li Xiaolin of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries came to together to speak on the current state of the U.S. – China relationship. Ambassador Cui called for efforts on the part of both nations to avoid misinterpretation and misunderstanding as a route to rebuilding mutual trust and developing international cooperation. He also emphasized that it was common interests that brought the two nations together 40 years ago. President Carter also addressed the audience Friday morning, suggesting that the current administration could benefit from opening up talks between behind-the-scenes advisors, just as he had done so with Japan during his time as President.

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‘China Has No Wish to Be America’s Enemy’

By YU SHUJUN Beijing Review — Jan 20, 2019

Summary

Zhou Mingwei, former President of the China International Publishing Group, gave a speech on the symposium of the 40th anniversary of US-China normalizations. Zhou said, the US-China relation is the most important bilateral relationship in the world and currently stands on a strategic point at its 40th year, where new challenges and problems emerge at times due to the global economic movements, but the two countries should work together with the understanding of their mutual divergences and differences.  He also suggested the importance of historical responsibilities for US-China relation, which requires both nations to “listen carefully to the voices and wished of the ordinary (Chinese and American) people”.

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Candid talk on relations in challenging time

By MAY ZHOU, China Daily, January 21, 2019

Summary

40 years into the U.S. and China’s formalized relationship, both nations have gained much and may continue to do so if they choose cooperation over confrontation. The Carter Center’s Symposium on the 40th Anniversary brought together several hundred individuals, experts in Foreign Policy and those with interests in U.S. – China Relations. The discussions held at this conference seemed to prescribe to a similar thread of thought, of finding new, effective frameworks for preserving and building the U.S. – China relationship. One such topic of conversation was on the ideas of perception in today’s world. On this, Dr. Yawei Liu had this to say, “While America wants China to change its system, China only wants America to change its perception of China.”

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Working toward better US-China relations

By MAY ZHOU, China Daily, January 23, 2019

Summary

The dramatic news of the U.S. and China normalizing relations has remained vivid in Dr. Yawei Liu’s memory. Now the Director of the China Program at the Carter Center, Dr. Liu had no idea that, at the time of normalization, he would go on to the study in the U.S. and, one day, work for former President Jimmy Carter. Dr. Liu’s relationship began with the Carter Center in the 1990s, and in 2005 he helped to establish the Carter Center’s China Program. Building U.S. – China relations have remained a legacy for President Carter and the Center, especially on the eve of the 40th Anniversary of the U.S. and China normalizing relations. “Different from many other think tanks, the Carter Center focuses more on practical issues. The China Program has always been working on finding solutions for better US-China engagement and will continue to do so,” he said.

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Summaries Contributed by:

Bilal Hyder

Emma Stutts

Crystal Wu

China Program Interns, Spring 2019