In 2013, relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America maintained steady and positive growth in general.
The two countries maintained frequent engagement at the top and other levels. The presidents of the two countries had two meetings and one telephone conversation and exchanged letters 14 times. They stayed in close touch on China-US relations and issues of mutual interest. On 14 March, the first day of his presidency, President Xi Jinping talked with President Barack Obama over the phone. From 7 to 8 June, President Xi and President Obama held a historic, constructive and strategic meeting at Sunnylands, California. During the meeting, they reached important agreement on working together to build a new model of major-country relations between China and the United States, setting the course of bilateral relations. The two presidents also met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit at St. Petersburg on 6 September. On 10 October, Premier Li Keqiang met with US Secretary of State John Kerry during the East Asian leaders' meetings.
On 4 and 5 December, US Vice President Joseph Biden paid an official visit to China. He had talks with President Xi and met with Premier Li. He also met with and attended the welcome ceremony and luncheon hosted by Vice President Li Yuanchao. The two sides had candid and in-depth discussions on China-US relations and major issues of shared interest. A number of senior US officials visited China, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russell.
The two countries held frequent institutional dialogues. On 21 November, the fourth meeting of the China-US High-level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE) was held in Washington, D.C., which was co-chaired by Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Secretary of State Kerry. The meeting yielded 75 outcomes, more than any previous meetings. From 10 to 11 July, President Xi's special representatives Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi and President Obama's special representatives Secretary Kerry and Secretary Lew co-chaired the fifth round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Washington. With a list of 178 outcomes, it was the most fruitful round since the launch of the mechanism. The third round of the China-US Strategic Security Dialogue was held as part of the Strategic Dialogue, co-chaired by Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui and Deputy Secretary Burns. The two sides established a Working Group on Climate Change and a Cyber Working Group, and held the first round of meetings and reached common understanding on cooperation in a number of areas. From 19 to 20 December, the 24th meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) was held in Beijing. Vice Premier Wang Yang, US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Michael Froman co-chaired the meeting, and US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack attended the meeting. The Chinese side issued a fact sheet with a record number of 76 outcomes.
From 16 to 20 August, State Councilor and Defense Minister General Chang Wanquan visited the United States.
On 13 April, State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with Secretary Kerry in Beijing. On 12 July, State Councilor Yang met with National Security Advisor Susan Rice in Washington.
On 2 July, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Secretary Kerry on the sidelines of the East Asian foreign ministers' meetings. From 19 to 27 September, Foreign Minister Wang visited the United States and attended the General Debate of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, during which he met with Vice President Biden, Secretary Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
The two countries maintained regular exchanges between their legislatures. In June, Chairwoman of the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee Fu Ying visited the United States. In 2013, nine groups of 32 members of the US Congress and 17 groups of over 200 Congressional staff visited China. The following members of the US Congress visited China: Co- Chair of the House US-China Working Group Rick Larson, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Ed Royce and its Ranking Member Eliot Engel in January; Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Bob Corker in March; Benjamin Cardin, Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May; Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez, Senator John McCain and a delegation of the Congressional Black Caucus in August.
China-US economic and trade ties kept up the good momentum. Exchanges and cooperation in culture, energy, the environment, agriculture, health, transportation, counter-terrorism and law enforcement continued to expand. There was further improvement and development in military-tomilitary relations.
In 2013, China-US trade registered fast growth. Bilateral trade reached a record US$521 billion, up by 7.5% year on year. The total stock of mutual investment exceeded US$100 billion, a record high. China and the United States are each other's second largest trading partner. The United States is China's No. 1 export market and fifth largest source of import, while China is the third largest export market and top source of import of the United States.
Mutual investment grew steadily and rapidly. The accumulated nonfinancial direct investment by Chinese businesses was US$4.23 billion, up by 15.9% compared with 2012. The total number of US-invested projects had reached 63,233 with a paid-in value of US$72.78 billion, making the United States one of the biggest sources of foreign investment for China.
Trade protectionism in the United States was on the rise. All the ten on-going trade remedy investigations the United States launched against China were initiated in 2013. They include four anti-dumping and countervailing cases, one anti-dumping case and one countervailing case, with a total sum of US$200 million involved.
The two countries deepened exchanges and collaboration in education, science and technology, culture, transportation, environmental protection, sport and health. In January, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang co-chaired the fifth meeting of the Steering Committee of the China- US Clean Energy Research Center with US Energy Secretary Steven Chu in Washington, and met with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. In April, the second China-US State-Province Chief Education Officers Dialogue was held at Harvard University. In June, Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu had a telephone call with US Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack to discuss safety of genetically modified food and trade of agricultural produce. US Under Secretary of Agriculture Catherine Woteki visited China. In July, the third China-US Environmental Industry Forum was held in Beijing. The fourth China- US Innovation Dialogue took place in Washington. Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang held talks with US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Washington. During the fifth round of S&ED, Vice Minister of Agriculture Niu Dun co-chaired the fifth meeting of the China-US Joint Commission on Agriculture with Acting Under Secretary of Agriculture Darci Vetter, and met with Under Secretary of Agriculture Woteki. In October, the sixth meeting of the China-US Transportation Forum was held in Chicago, attended by Vice Minister of Transport Gao Hongfeng and US Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari. In November, the fourth meeting of the CPE was held successfully in Washington. Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Secretary Kerry co-chaired the meeting. During the visit, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China and the US Department of Health and Human Services signed the Protocol to Extend and Amend the Agreement for Cooperation in the Science and Technology of Medicine and Public Health. The Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Huntington Library co-hosted "Culture and Commerce: A US-China Dialogue across the Pacific" in Los Angeles. In December, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian and Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy attended the fourth meeting of the China-US Joint Commission on Environmental Protection in Beijing. Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu met with US Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack in Beijing during the 24th JCCT.
In 2013, military-to-military relations continued to improve and faced opportunities for further development. During their meeting at Sunnylands in June, President Xi and President Obama agreed on building a new model of military relations commensurate with the new model of major-country relations between China and the United States, charting the direction for military ties. PLA Chief of General Staff General Fang Fenghui had telephone calls with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dempsey in March and May. In April, State Councilor and Defense Minister General Chang Wanquan had a telephone call with US Secretary of Defense Hagel. From 21 to 25 April, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dempsey visited China and met with President Xi Jinping, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission General Fan Changlong, Chief of General Staff General Fang Fenghui and State Councilor and Defense Minister General Chang Wanquan. In August, State Councilor and Defense Minister General Chang Wanquan paid a successful visit to the United States, and had productive discussion with Secretary Hagel on building a new model of China-US military relations. In September, Commander of the PLA Navy Admiral Wu Shengli visited the United States, and PLA Deputy Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong co-chaired the 14th China-US Defense Consultative Talks with US Under Secretary of Defense Dr. James Miller in Beijing. In the same month, Chinese and US navies conducted an anti-piracy drill in the Gulf of Aden. In November, Chinese and US military personnel participated in the first field training exercise for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Hawaii. In December, the ninth meeting of the China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks was held in Beijing. In addition, the two armed forces engaged in exchanges and cooperation on defense academies, mutual visits by naval ships, military archives and counter-piracy. The two sides also held the annual meeting and working group meetings under the China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement.
Law enforcement cooperation maintained a strong momentum characterized by frequent exchanges and close cooperation. On 3 July, Meng Jianzhu, member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, attended the fourth international conference of senior representatives for security affairs in Vladivostok, Russia. On the sidelines of the meeting, he met with US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and discussed China-US relations as well as bilateral law enforcement and security exchange and collaboration. The two sides agreed to establish an annual ministerial meeting mechanism in 2013, and reached consensus on cooperation in counter-terrorism, cyber crimes and other areas. On 13 and 14 November, the 11th meeting of the China-US Joint Liaison Group (JLG) was held in Washington. The meeting focused on law enforcement and judicial cooperation issues of interest to the two sides, and formulated a plan for cooperation in key areas and specific steps to be taken in 2014. The two sides decided to further strengthen the JLG mechanism, review and innovate ways of cooperation and work more closely to make further progress on pursuit of fugitives, criminal asset recovery, counter-narcotics, cyber crimes and infringement of intellectual property rights.
The two sides maintained close communication and coordination on major international, regional and global issues. Bilateral relations gained greater strategic significance and global implications.
The joint efforts made by China and the United States contributed to the general stability on the Korean Peninsula, the soft landing of the issue of Syria's chemical weapons and the positive progress on the Iranian nuclear issue. The two countries also had effective communication and coordination on such issues as Afghanistan, Sudan and South Sudan and the Middle East. At the same time, the two countries stepped up cooperation within multilateral frameworks, including the United Nations, G20, APEC and East Asia Summit, maintained dialogue and coordination on the financial crisis, climate change, cyber security and other global challenges, and worked together to promote world peace, stability and prosperity.
Issues related to Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, trade, human rights and religion remained outstanding in China-US relations.
The Obama administration reaffirmed on several occasions its commitment to the one-China policy and the three Sino-US joint communiqués, and its support for the peaceful development of cross- Straits relations. However, the US side continued to have official and military contact with Taiwan and elevated the substantive relations with Taiwan. In 2013, the US approved "transits" by Taiwan's leader Ma Yingjeou, visits by so-called "President of the Legislative Yuan" Wang Jinpyng, "Foreign Minister" David Lin, "Minister of Culture" Lung Yingtai, "Minister of Justice" Tseng Yung-fu, Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party Su Tseng-chang and Vice Chairman of Kuomintang John Chiang. It also approved activities in the United States by the socalled "Minister of Overseas Community Affairs Council" Chen Shyh- Kwei, "Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs" Pan Shih-wei, "Deputy Ministers of National Defense" Andrew Yang and Yen Teh-fa and "Vice Minister of Economic Affairs" Cho Shih-chao. The United States sent Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Menendez to Taiwan, and held with Taiwan such events as the "US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference" and the "High-Level National Security Meeting" in the United States. The United States, in disregard of China's opposition, signed the "Agreement on Privilege, Exemption and Immunity" and restarted talks on "Trade and Investment Framework Agreement" (TIFA) with Taiwan. The US Congress passed the bill "To Direct the Secretary of State to Develop a Strategy to Obtain Observer Status for Taiwan at the Triennial International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly" and introduced a number of bills or amendments regarding official contact between the United States and Taiwan, the sales of F-16C/D fighters and transfer of Oliver Hazard Perryclass frigates to Taiwan.
The Chinese government firmly responded to the wrong actions of the United States and urged the United States to recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, honor the one-China policy and three Sino- US joint communiqués in good faith, stop official and military contact with and arms sales to Taiwan and take concrete actions to support the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations. The United States publicly reiterated on several occasions that it is committed to the one-China policy, respects China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, hopes to see continued improvement and growth in cross-Straits relations and does not support "Taiwan independence".
The Dalai Lama visited the United States in May and October. The so-called "Kalon Tripa" Lobsang Sangay visited the United States in April, May, August and November. In May, the US Department of States issued the Annual International Religious Freedom Report of 2012. The report made unfounded criticism against China's policies on religion and the situation of religious freedom as well as irresponsible comments on the self-immolation of Tibetans. In the wake of the violent terrorist attacks in Bachu, Shanshan and Shache of China's Xinjiang on 23 April, 26 June and 30 December respectively, the spokesperson of the US Department of State made ungrounded criticism against China's policies on ethnic groups and religion. Bearing in mind the overall interests of maintaining China's sovereignty, security and interests, the Chinese side firmly rejected the wrong actions of the United States and urged the United States to change course and abandon "double standard" so as not to undermine counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries.
On 19 April, the US Department of State released the Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2012, which contained unwarranted accusations against China's human rights conditions. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom and the Department of State released their respective annual international religious freedom reports on 30 April and 20 May. Secretary Kerry and Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook answered questions from the press regarding the reports and criticized China's policy on religion and the situation of religious freedom. The United States continued to voice concerns over human rights issues through bilateral contact and on other occasions. Prior to the International Human Rights Day on 10 December, Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Gary Locke, among others, both made statements which interfered in China's domestic affairs. China made stern representations against these wrong rhetoric and actions of the US side.