BEIJING (China Daily/ANN) - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday proposed three suggestions on bringing China-US relations back to the right track when addressing the China-US Think Tanks Media Forum.

"First, activate and open all the channels of dialogue," Wang said.

Only communication can dispel falsehoods, and only dialogue can prevent miscalculation, Wang said, reaffirming that China's door to dialogue remains open.

As long as the US is ready, China can restore and restart the dialogue mechanisms at all levels and in all areas. All issues can be put on the table. All differences can be addressed properly through dialogue, Wang said.

In the meantime, as long as the US does not set restrictions, China is also ready to promote exchanges and interactions between government departments, localities and social sectors, so as to enable the two peoples to know and understand more of each other, Wang said.

"Second, review and agree on the lists of interactions," Wang said.

Given the inter-connectedness and complexity of issues, Wang said it is useful for China and the United States to run over them and draw up three lists.

The first is a list of cooperation areas. It should specify all areas, bilateral and global, where China and the United States need to and can work together, Wang said. "The longer this list goes, the better. Cooperation on this list should be immune to the impact of other issues."

The second is a list of dialogues. "It should itemize the issues of differences that could be solved through dialogues," Wang said, adding they should be designated to the existing dialogue mechanisms and platforms as soon as possible.

The third is a list of issues that need proper management. "It should identify the few tough issues that the two countries have little chance to agree on in the near future," Wang said. "The two sides should manage them well in the spirit of seeking common ground while putting aside differences, so as to minimize their impact on and harm to the overall China-US relations."  

"Third, focus and cooperate on COVID-19 response," Wang said.

Noting that in the face of the virus, cooperation should be the first-order priority, Wang said China is ready to share with the US information about COVID-19 prevention and containment as well as its response experience.

"We are also ready to have closer exchanges with the US on diagnostics and therapeutics, vaccines and economic recovery," Wang said.

The US, for its part, should immediately stop its acts of politicization and stigmatization, Wang said, adding that it should work with China to promote a global response to save more lives and live up to the international responsibility as two major countries.

Avoiding impractical decoupling

Wang also said the opinion that China-US relationship will not be able to return to its past should not mean ignoring the history altogether and starting all over again, let alone impractical decoupling.

He said that some people in the United States claimed that the engagement policy over the past decades had been a failure, and that the United States had been ripped off in its cooperation with China.

Such a comment "disrespects history and conflicts with the fact," Wang said.

China and the United States were allies who fought side by side during WWII. In the 1970s, the two sides reopened the door toward establishing diplomatic ties on the basis of respecting the different systems of each other, Wang said, noting that "our dialogue and cooperation have come a long way" thanks to the political wisdom and strenuous efforts by one generation after another.

"It reveals the inherent law of China-US relations, and also represents the trend of the times," he said.

In the past 40 years and more since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and the United States have made the best use of their complementarity, and their interests have become highly integrated.

China's success is attributable to its opening-up to and cooperation with the United States and the world. And China's development has provided the United States with sustained growth impetus and a huge market, Wang said.

"From regional hotspots to counter-terrorism and nonproliferation, from international financial crisis to disease prevention and control, China and the United States have jointly accomplished many great things to the benefit of not only the two countries but also the world," he said.

Wang suggested that the two sides should develop bilateral relations on past achievements and keep pace with the times.

"Despite the impact of COVID-19, 74 percent of US businesses in China said they plan to make more investment here," he said, adding that 191 agricultural organizations had sent a joint letter to US President Donald Trump, calling for continued implementation of the phase one trade agreement.