China-US relations at forum in Hong Kong calls for maintaining partners' relationship

Global experts and scholars gathered at the sixth United States-China Hong Kong Forum in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Monday and Tuesday, calling for overcoming differences between the two countries and maintaining the partners' relationship.

The annual event brought together more than 350 guests from across China, the United States, Singapore, Germany, and India to discuss topics such as deepening people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Board Chair Charlene Barshefsky, a former U.S. trade representative, rebuked the decoupling between China and the United States advocated by some U.S. think tanks.

"I think to decouple the economies is, first of all, highly unrealistic, and second of all, potentially destructive of global growth, which would be counterproductive," she said.

Late former U.S. President Richard Nixon's grandson, Christopher Nixon Cox, a board member of the Richard Nixon Foundation, expressed his hope that the diplomatic wisdom his grandfather demonstrated in breaking the ice for U.S.-China relations back then can continue to contribute to the healthy development of bilateral ties today.

"It's through that focusing on mutual interest, and then working out differences that I think he could make a very big difference today in terms of making the relationship between China and the United States even better," he said.

Participants also discussed topics such as artificial intelligence, technology governance, and supply chain resilience.

"All voices should be heard, and then together form a joint force to promote the development of relations between the two countries. I think it's fine for voices to differ and opinions to vary, but there must be one consensus, that is, China and the United States should be partners," said Shen Xin, vice president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Themed "Circles for Peace", the sixth U.S.-China Hong Kong Forum is organized by the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a Hong Kong-based non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting dialogue between the two countries, and co-organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

China-US relations at forum in Hong Kong calls for maintaining partners' relationship

Local armed police and militiamen were busy carrying out relief work in the typhoon-hit areas of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, as the massive clear-up operation continues following the devastating flooding which decimated several rural communities.

At least 39 people were killed after Typhoon Maysak, the 10th typhoon of the year, triggered extreme rainstorms that caused severe flooding in parts of Guangxi in the Pearl River basin starting last weekend.

As the storms recede, rescue and recovery teams are continuing to provide aid to previously cut-off communities in the badly-hit city of Hengzhou, after the town's main road was reopened on Saturday.

In the city's Yunbiao Town, over 1,000 officers and soldiers of the Guangxi Corps of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force worked to clear sludge and debris from the National Highway 209 -- a major thoroughfare -- on Monday, before turning their attention to other local roads and lanes, as well as a local kindergarten, with the hope of allowing normal life to resume in the disaster-stricken town.

Additionally, the Guangxi Military District of the Chinese People's Liberation Army deployed more than 2,200 troops and militiamen to assist with post-disaster reconstruction in the affected areas on Monday.

Their operations covered towns, districts, and industrial zones across several cities, with key tasks including the removal of sludge and debris, carrying out essential disinfection and epidemic prevention work, and the transportation of vital relief supplies.

So far, they have cleared mud and debris totaling over 40,000 square meters and removed more than 60 tonnes of garbage from the areas, while over six kilometers of roads have been re-opened with over 8,000 supply items items being brought to areas in need.

Armed police, militiamen dispatched to aid flood relief efforts in disaster-hit Guangxi