C100 Annual Conference in NYC: U.S. and China Share New Visions of Development

The Committee of 100 (C100), a premier U.S. organization of Chinese-American leaders, is holding its annual conference in New York.

The event has attracted elites from both the United States and China to discuss new visions for the two countries.

Hundreds of elites from the U.S. and China gathered in New York over the weekend to discuss China-U.S. relations and future collaborations between the two countries.

Huang Ping is the Chinese Consul General in New York. He says he believes the outcome of China-U.S. relations “is not a knowledge about how widely we differ, but how commonly our values and interests can be shared.” And that, he says, is the basis of any sound relationship.

“China and the United States are still bounded by strong common interests and responsibilities… in spite of all the differences, the two countries are more interdependent than ever. The right approach to addressing our differences is dialogue…Confrontation gets us to nowhere. We are happy to see that the latest round of trade talks between the two sides have made important and substantial progress with a bright prospect of reaching a final deal in the near future.”

He says China’s development will create even more opportunities for the United States, citing the “Foreign Investment Law” just adopted at this year’s annual session of China’s top legislature as one of the good examples.

Maurice Greenberg is former chairman and CEO of the U.S. insurance giant American International Group (AIG), a company that just celebrated its 100th anniversary in Shanghai last year.

Greenberg, who was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal for his dedication to promoting U.S-China friendship over the past few decades, says he is “positive” about the future of the relationship between the United States and China.

“US-China Relations is a short sentence but big topic. I think a lot of progress has been made. It’s not going to be perfect, but it has come long ways… Those issues I think are being addressed, there have been progress, probably won’t be perfect, but be a lot better than it was. A world with US and China as allies is a much safer world than we are not. I’m optimistic, I’m working my tail off to make sure that we make progress and I think progress has been made.”

Lawrence Summers is a former U.S. Treasury Secretary and a former President of Harvard University.

He says that the past four decades have seen China achieving substantial economic and social development. However, he says at times the U.S. has been anxious about China’s development, blaming China for some of its own economic challenges, which, as he puts it, lie with the policies in the United States itself. Summers suggests that the U.S. and China take a period of time for strategic reassurance.

“What I would like to suggest is we need an era of strategic reassurance, an era in which we recognize and do not try to deny that not all our interest in the world are coincident, that not very problem is going to have a win-win solution, but to suggest that we must each make room for the other to define their greatness and to flourish as a society in a way that is consistent with their traditions.

With 150 members who are Chinese-American leaders in business, government, academia and arts, C100 aims to facilitate bilateral communication and mutual understanding, and to promote the participation of all Chinese Americans in American society.