Former US official: US needs long-term view about China

The current US government is taking a more transactional and short-term view of the world while the Chinese government is taking a long-term view, said Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury secretary.

Summers made the remarks at the China Development Forum 2018 on Saturday morning during his conversation with Zhu Min, professor and dean of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University.

When asked about his view about the Section 301 investigation by the US, Summers said that the US government should take a longer and more general view.

“I do think it is a mistake to frame these conversations purely in commercial terms,” he said, adding that for future China and US relations, it is much more important to collaborate than to disagree.

“Ultimately in this decade I hope that the US and China will come to recognize that in a world of climate changes and terrorism … it is much more important to collaborate than to disagree,” he said.

“And in this way that the great power relationship will take a new form, and have collaboration on common global issues, with agreed rules and procedures for managing commercial disputes and that our two nations can contribute to making a much better world than any that is seen so far.”