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Clinton calls for better ties
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THERE was no need for China and the United States to be enemies, former US president Bill Clinton said in a rousing closing address to the Fortune Global Forum yesterday, one day after talks with President Jiang Zemin.
After acknowledging recent strains in relations between China and the United States, Clinton said their relationship did not have to be adversarial.
Clinton said China's entry into the World Trade Organization, widely predicted to take place before the end of the year, would not only increase China's prosperity but “its interdependence with the rest of the world".
“Interdependence requires us to continue to work towards solutions, which — in the parlance of game theory — are win, win rather than win, lose."
He acknowledged recent “bumps on the road" in building ties between China and the US, including the spy plane stand-off and the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict while he was president, “something I still profoundly regret".
On Wednesday, Dai Xianglong, governor of China's central bank, told journalists at the forum that despite recent Sino-US tensions, “economic co-operation serves the interests of both countries".
Growth to continue
Dai also said China's economy will continue its rapid growth and largely avoid the impact of the downturn in the US by relying on domestic demand.
Dai forecast China's GDP would double within the next decade to US$2 trillion. “I could not be more sure," he said.
Dai's bullish assessment received backing from Kenneth Courtis, managing director of Goldman Sachs Asia, who said China was “just beginning to take off."
“If China can make reforms — and I'm fairly confident that it will — then this will end up being one of the world's best equity markets,”he added(SD-Agencies)
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