Ambassador Qin Gang Takes an Interview with Forbes

秦刚大使接受美国《福布斯》杂志采访实录

On April 29, Ambassador Qin Gang took an interview with Forbes journalist Russell Flannery, and answered questions about China-US economic and trade ties. The transcript of the interview is as follows:

4月29日，秦刚大使接受美国《福布斯》杂志记者范鲁贤（Russell Flannery）采访，主要就中美经贸关系及双边经贸协议、企业投资、营商环境等回答提问。采访实录如下：

Flannery: Thank you for joining us. There’s been a lot of discussion about the geopolitical relations between the US and China of late, but not so much conversation about the business side and the economic side. How do you size up the business and economic relationship between the US and China now?

范鲁贤：感谢您接受采访。当前大家都热议美中之间的地缘政治关系，对经贸议题的讨论却没有这么多。您怎么看美中经贸关系现状？

Ambassador Qin: Thank you for having me. China and the United States are two biggest economies. Our interests are so intertwined. The two countries are interdependent over the past decades since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. Our trade and business relations have made remarkable achievements, benefiting the two countries and benefiting the world. We are natural partners, because our economies are highly complementary. Last year, the COVID has caused great difficulties to the world economy. But China-US trade performed well. Just give you a few figures on bilateral trade. The US-China bilateral trade reached a record high of 750 billion US dollars, a 28.7% increase over the previous year. And on investment, the US investment FDI has approached 100 billion US dollars. From the other direction, China’s non-financial direct investment in the United States has surpassed 70 billion US dollars. And so far, more than 70,000 American companies are investing in China, 97% of them are making profits. Look at these figures, they are good. We are trying to buy more. According to the statistics of the US-China business Council, last year China’s import from the United States increased by 21%. This is another record high year. So we are very optimistic about the potential and opportunities between our two countries.

秦大使：感谢你的采访。中美是世界最大的两个经济体。建交以来几十年间，两国利益深度融合，经贸关系取得长足发展，惠及两国和世界。两国经济高度互补，我们是天然的伙伴。去年，新冠肺炎疫情给世界经济造成严重困难，但中美贸易依然发展得很好。以数据为例，中美贸易额达到创纪录的7500多亿美元，同比增长28.7%。在投资方面，美累计对华实际投资接近1000亿美元，中国企业在美累计非金融类直接投资超过700亿美元。目前在华美资企业超过7万家，其中97%是盈利的。这些数据都很亮眼。我们也在扩大进口，根据美中贸委会的统计，2021年美对华货物出口同比增长21%，再创历史新高。因此，我们对两国经贸关系的潜力和机遇非常乐观。

But at the same time, we are mindful of more difficulties and challenges in our trade and business relations. These uncertainties and instabilities, many are from the US side. You know the Section 301 tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration are still going on. And the United States is now defining China-US relations as intense competition. Under such circumstances, business and trade are being politicized. So Chinese companies, more and more are being restricted and even suppressed by the overstretching of the concept of national security and by the false claiming of forced labor in Xinjiang. Now we have more difficulties and uncertainties. 

同时我们也注意到，中美经贸合作面临更多困难和挑战，这些不稳定不确定性主要来自美方。特朗普政府根据301条款加征的关税仍在延续，美方用激烈竞争定义两国关系，在这样的情况下，经贸关系被政治化。越来越多的中国企业因美方泛化国家安全概念、诬称新疆存在“强迫劳动”问题等做法而受到限制甚至打压。我们面临的困难和不确定性在增加。

So we hope that the United States should stop politicizing our business cooperation and stop using trade as a tool, so that we could provide more stability and predictability to investors. Because if this situation goes from bad to worse, it is in nobody’s interest. Looking around, we have COVID rampant in the world, and we have the Ukraine crisis in Europe. They have caused great difficulties to the world economy, and more countries are suffering from energy and food shortages. Global supply chains are being disrupted badly. China and the United States, as two big countries, as the two largest economies, they need to coordinate and collaborate and to take a leading role to make the world economy recover as soon as possible. But it needs a good environment. Thank you.

我们希望美方停止将商业合作政治化、把贸易当作工具，为投资者提供更多稳定性和可预测性。如果情况变糟，不符合任何人的利益。疫情仍然严峻，欧洲乌克兰危机延宕，这些都给世界经济造成很大困难，越来越多的国家苦于能源和粮食短缺，全球供应链被严重扰乱。中美作为大国和世界前两大经济体需要加强协调合作，在推动世界经济尽快复苏方面发挥领导作用。但这需要一个好的环境。谢谢。

Flannery: So let’s zero in, if we could, on investment. Chinese investment used to be a lot bigger, not too long ago, than it is today. We do see successful companies like Fuyao Boli which is in the Midwest and there are some Chinese pharmaceutical companies also investing in that area. What beyond the general environment that you just mentioned, do you think, could be done to get investment back up to where it was, or even higher?

范鲁贤：让我们聚焦一下投资。以前中国在美投资要比现在多很多。我们看到很多成功的中国企业来美投资，例如福耀玻璃和很多中国药企在中西部地区有投资。除了刚才您说的大环境，还能做什么来推动投资回升到以往甚至更高水平？

Ambassador Qin: Over the past decades, we have seen many Chinese companies investing in the United States. They have created almost 1 million jobs to American people. So they are good for American consumers. They are good for American families. But as you have noticed, in the recent years, the Chinese investors, they are facing more difficulties and challenges, mainly because of two viruses.

秦大使：过去几十年，很多中国企业在美投资兴业，为美国人民创造了近100万就业，对美国消费者、美国家庭都有利。但近年来中国企业对美投资遇到越来越多困难和挑战，主要是受两种病毒的干扰。

The first is COVID. The pandemic has caused great difficulties to the business operation of Chinese companies in the United States. According to a survey conducted by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the United States, 35% of the Chinese companies being asked reply that they are seriously impacted by the pandemic.

一种是新冠病毒。疫情给在美运营的中资企业带来很大困难。美国中国总商会报告显示，参与调查的中资企业中有35%遭受了严重负面影响。

And secondly, and the most importantly, it’s the political virus, as I mentioned earlier. Trade and business are being politicized in the United States. The so-called national security concept is being abused and overstretched. You know how many Chinese companies are being sanctioned or restricted? More than 1,000. They are put on various list of entities and sanctions, and the lists are getting longer and longer day by day. Take telecommunication business for example. A number of Chinese telecommunication companies, they have been deprived of their licenses for operating in the United States. 

第二种也是更重要的，就是我刚才提到的政治病毒。美方不断将经贸问题政治化，滥用、泛化国家安全概念。你知道有多少家中国企业受到制裁或限制吗？超过1000家。它们被美方列入各类实体和制裁清单，而且清单越来越长，例如已有多家中国电信企业被吊销了在美运营执照。

So the picture is not very encouraging. We urge the US side to take common sense, to be reasonable and provide a fair and predictable environment for the Chinese investors, so that they can still have confidence in the US market, because the Chinese investors, they are doing business in the United States, and they help create jobs, and they help to provide good-quality products at reasonable costs to American industries, to American families. As you mentioned, Fuyao Glass company, half of the total consumption of glass in the vehicle industry in the United States is from Fuyao Glass Company. They provide more than 2,000 jobs locally.

现在情况不太乐观。我们敦促美方重拾理性，为中国投资者提供公平、可预期的投资环境，使他们对美国市场保持信心。中国投资者在美经营可创造就业，为美企业和家庭提供质优价平的商品，例如你提到的福耀玻璃已占美汽车玻璃市场份额的一半以上，为当地提供2000多个就业岗位。

If I want to say something to the Chinese companies investing in the United States, I want to deliver a similar message. Although we have lots of challenges and complexities in China-US relations, don’t lose confidence in the US market, because China-US economic and trade relations are win-win and resilient. At the same time, they should be aware of the difficulties and challenges. They should get to know more about the US policies, rules and regulations and to readjust their businesses so that they could avoid risks. And they should also learn how to use laws to protect their legitimate rights and interests.

如果要给在美投资的中国企业提建议，我想说，尽管中美关系面临诸多挑战和复杂因素，但不要对美国市场失去信心。因为中美经贸关系是互利共赢的，是有韧性的。同时也应意识到困难和挑战，更多了解美国的政策法规，重新调整业务以规避风险，还要学会用法律保护自身合法权益。

Flannery: You mentioned that US exports to China have increased. Recently. you were out in the Midwest and had an interesting time. I was reading some reports from your trip. What is your sense of the folks that you talked to in that part of the US about the outlook for their business with China?

范鲁贤：您提到美对华出口有所增加。近期您访问了美中西部地区，访问很成功，我也读到一些关于您访问的报道。您这次接触到的中西部地区的人怎么看待他们与中国的经贸关系前景？

Ambassador Qin: Most recently, I visited the Heartland of the United States, three states I visited – Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. And during the whole visit, I met many business people, and I went to the farmland and went to factory workshops. And I talked to not only the CEOs, but farmers and workers. I have a very strong feeling that the sound and healthy China-US trade and economic relations are in the fundamental interests of our two peoples. Take agriculture for example. Last year, China’s import of US agricultural products increased by a remarkable 68% over the previous year, making the volume total at more than 38 billion US dollars. This is a bulk in the share of the US export to China. We had a senior-level agricultural dialogue held in Iowa. It was well attended by central and local governments and by business and agricultural associations and by individuals. The repercussion was overwhelming. During the symposium two big deals were announced. Two Chinese companies announced to buy more American agricultural products.

秦大使：我近期访问了美国腹地三个州——伊利诺伊、艾奥瓦和明尼苏达。访问期间，我会见多位商界领袖，也去到农田和工厂车间，不仅同公司CEO，也和农民、工人进行了广泛交流。我强烈感受到，中美经贸关系健康良好发展符合两国人民根本利益。就拿农业来说，去年中国自美进口农产品同比增长68%，达到380亿美元，占美对华总出口的一大部分。访问期间还举办了中美农业高层研讨会，两国中央和地方政府官员、行业协会和企业代表等广泛参加，反响热烈。研讨会期间还宣布两项农产品交易大单，两家中国公司将采购更多美国农产品。

American farmers, they told me their lives very much depend on their exports to China. And I was very impressed with their way of doing modern agriculture. They are hardworking, but hardworking in modern agriculture is not enough. It involves technology and is knowledge-based. I was very impressed with the farmers using modern, advanced technology to capture and store carbon on their farms. They are very climate-aware. I was also very impressed with the modernization and automation of American agriculture. So as I said to people in Iowa, our agricultural cooperation shouldn’t be limited to only “you sell more and I buy more”. We should expand to the area of sustainable agriculture, how two countries can learn from each other and help each other to achieve the green and low-carbon transformation in agriculture. And also I met many businessmen in many areas. They are all positive about China-US business relations. They are all against tariffs, and nobody wants to leave China. That’s what they told me. They are all optimistic about the opportunities of China’s development.

美国农民告诉我，他们的生活十分依赖对华出口。我对他们的现代化农业生产方式印象深刻，他们辛勤劳动，但在现代农业中光辛勤劳动还不够，还要有技术和知识。他们使用先进技术在农场实现碳捕捉和碳封存，很有应对气候变化的意识，这令人难忘。美国农业现代化和自动化给我留下很深印象。所以我对艾奥瓦州人民说，我们农业合作不应该局限于你多卖一些、我多买一些，而应扩展到可持续农业方面，探讨两国如何相互借鉴和帮助，实现农业绿色低碳转型。我还会见了很多领域的企业家，他们都对中美经贸关系持积极态度、反对关税，没有人想离开中国。这都是他们亲口告诉我的。他们都对中国的发展机遇感到乐观。

Flannery: So as the US exports increased last year, US Trade Chief Katherine Tai said recently that the US has repeatedly sought and obtained commitments from China, only to find that a follow-through or real change remains elusive. What do you say to that?

范鲁贤：去年美国（对华）出口增长了，但美国贸易代表戴琪近来却表示，美国一再向中国寻求并得到了承诺，最后却发现中方不太可能落实或作出真正改变。您对此有何评价？

Ambassador Qin: China has a good record of keeping promises. We honor our words with actions. This year marks the 20th anniversary of China’s entry into WTO. In the past 20 years, China has fulfilled all the commitments of entry. Take the tariffs for example, the tariff level has dropped from 15% to about 7%. We have been improving the market economy and putting a sound legal system in place. And we have made great efforts on IPR protection. So we have a good record of honoring our commitments.

秦大使：中国历来信守承诺。我们言必信，行必果。今年是中国加入世贸组织20周年。过去20年里，中国已经履行了所有入世承诺。以关税为例，关税总水平从15%下降到7%左右。我们不断完善市场经济体制，建立健全法律体系，在保护知识产权方面也做了很大努力。因此，我们在履行承诺方面记录良好。

And secondly, talking about the phase one (trade deal), China has fulfilled all its obligations with time deadlines. And remarkable progress has been made in IPR protection, the market access for American agricultural products and financial services. We have been buying more from the United States. And we have also adopted a market-based process of exclusion to our countermeasures to the US additional tariffs imposed on us. So that’s why last year, people saw that there’s a remarkable increase of the US export to China. We have done so much. 

再讲到中美第一阶段经贸协议，中方已履行了全部有时限的义务，在知识产权保护、农产品市场准入、金融服务等方面取得了显著进展。我们从美国购买了更多商品。我们还就对美反制关税实行市场化排除，这也是去年美国对华出口显著增长的原因。我们已经做了很多。

We have differences, but we don’t believe tariffs, trade wars are the choice. The best choice is to have a dialogue and negotiations to find mutually acceptable solution based on the principle of mutual respect and mutual accommodation. One side shouldn’t impose its own interest and its own thinking on the other side. We need to talk with each other, to learn from each other, to respect each other. And the tariffs are bad. It hurts China and it hurts the US. Just give you some figures, the tariff war so far hasn’t reduced the trade deficit of the United States. On the contrary, it brings more costs to American companies and American consumers. It cost American companies 1.7 trillion US dollars. And it cost American household 1,300 US dollars each year since the tariffs were taken into effect. Since 2018 when the tariff war was launched, in the first 3 years – the years 2018, 2019, 2020 – US export to China of each year in the 3 years was below the level of the year 2017, a year before the trade war was launched. So it cost how many jobs? More than 240,000 jobs in the United States. The tariff war does nobody’s good. I think it’s time for the US administration to reconsider and to cancel it as early as possible. Well, if the US side still wants to continue, I don’t know if they are prepared for more losses. If they will continue, we have to live up to it.

我们有分歧，但关税、贸易战不应该是我们的选择。最好是本着相互尊重和谅解原则，通过对话谈判找到双方都能接受的解决方案。一方不应把自己的利益和想法强加给另一方。我们需要互相交流，互相学习，互相尊重。关税是不好的，伤害了中国，也伤害了美国。这里有一些数据，贸易战到目前为止并没有减少美国的贸易逆差，相反，让美国公司和美国消费者增加了开支。自关税生效以来，已使美公司损失超过1.7万亿美元，每年还使美国家庭开支增加1300美元。2018年贸易战启动以来的前3年，我指的是2018年、2019年、2020年，这3年里美国每年对中国的出口都低于贸易战前2017年的水平。这期间丢失了多少工作岗位？超过24万个美国的工作岗位。贸易战对谁都没有好处。美国政府是时候重新考虑并尽早取消加征的关税了。如果美方还想继续，不知道是否做好了承受更多损失的准备，但中方不得不奉陪。

Flannery: I think even without the tariffs and going back further, many American companies, especially small and medium sized companies, are historically distant from China, may not have family in China and are not so close to the culture of China, whether it’s business or anything else. You’ve been in the US and you’ve gotten a chance to meet a lot of different Americans. Any suggestions that you could offer to American companies that are not in China but doing business in China today about how to approach the market?

范鲁贤：即使没有加征关税，往前追溯，许多美国企业尤其是中小型企业，他们在中国没有家人，对中国商业文化或者说对整个中国文化都不熟悉。您在美国结识了很多不同的美国人。对目前那些不在中国但开展对华业务的美国企业，在进入中国市场方面有什么建议吗？

Ambassador Qin: I have met many American people from small and medium sized businesses. Most of them showed great interest in doing business with China. Some of them didn’t know how to do better. I told them that China continues to pursue opening-up policy. Our door won’t be shut. Instead, our door will be kept wider and wider to the rest of the world. Actually, there are many small, medium and even micro foreign enterprises that have already been operating in China. Among all the foreign companies investing in China, more than 90% are small and medium sized companies. China, as I said, will continue to pursue opening-up policy. This will remain unchanged. We will do our best to provide a better business environment for them. So I do encourage small businesses of the United States to look at the future of China’s market which is huge. China has a population of 1.4 billion. Among them, 400 million are middle incomers, and this number will be growing. There will be great opportunities for investors across the world, big or small. We welcome and will treat all investors (as equals), domestic or foreign, big or small. We’ll try our best to provide a level play field for them. 

秦大使：我认识许多来自美国的中小型企业主。他们中大多数对与中国做生意有很大兴趣，但一些人不知道怎么做才更好。我告诉他们，中国将继续实行对外开放政策，对外开放的大门不会关上，只会越开越大。实际上，有很多中小微外资企业在华开展业务，在华投资的外企中90%以上属于中小型。我刚才说了，中国将继续对外开放，这一点不会改变。我们将尽最大努力为外企提供更好的营商环境。我鼓励美国的中小企业看看中国市场的广阔未来。中国有14亿人口，其中4亿为中等收入群体，这个数字还在增长。全球投资者都面临巨大机遇。中国对内外资和大中小企业都欢迎并将一视同仁。我们将尽最大努力提供一个公平的竞争环境。

If there is any suggestion I want to give to small businesses. First, stay positive, stay confident in China’s huge market. Second, be more careful about China’s policies, plannings, and development strategies. They are all open and transparent. They are on Chinese newspapers. They are on Chinese websites. So do some good homework and find out where the key priority areas are and where the good opportunities lie. Also they need to get familiar with the Chinese laws and regulations, so that they can better adapt to the business environment and culture in China and the Chinese society. 

如果要给美国小企业提建议，那就是首先要对中国巨大的市场抱有积极态度和充分信心。其次，要更加关注中国的政策规划和发展战略，这些都是公开透明的，在中国的报纸和网站上都能看到。所以要做一些功课，找出关键的优先发展领域是什么，好的市场机遇在哪里。他们还需要熟悉中国的法律法规，更好适应中国的营商环境和中国社会、中国文化。

Flannery: It’s just coming back to foreign businesses, but I think also Chinese businesses. One big obstacle to business in the last couple of years has been the reduction in the number of flights between the US and China. So whether you’re the CEO and you’re going over and looking at a big project that needs parent company support, or whether you’re a small businessman looking for a partner or somebody that’s gonna help you, I think on both sides, the lack of flights has been cited by business people as really an obstacle to commerce. Any hope for improvement in that?

范鲁贤：让我们再回到外国企业，但我认为这个问题也与中国企业相关。过去几年企业遇到的一大障碍是中美间航班数量减少。无论是CEO要去考察一个亟需母公司支持的大项目，还是小企业主要去寻找合作伙伴，航班数量不足确实是这些工商界人士面临的阻碍。这方面有改善的希望吗？

Ambassador Qin: The ongoing pandemic has caused great difficulties to business and travel. We have seen a new round of resurgences in the world, and also we are seeing more outbreaks in China. The Chinese government puts people’s lives and health as a top priority. So we have to take very strict and resolute measures to counter the spread of the pandemic. We call it “zero-Covid policy”. We work so hard to prevent the import of the virus from abroad. International flights are getting fewer and fewer. And people’s traveling is not convenient, even impossible, but it is temporary. And many American companies told me that their motto of being in China is that “in China, for China”. I think it’s an important time for foreign companies to stay together with Chinese people to get through this difficult time. Sooner or later, COVID will get relaxed or over. I hope that traveling will come back, but we fully understand the situation of foreign companies in China. So that’s why Chinese governments, at the central level or at the local level, are more closely engaged with foreign companies, listening to their requirements and difficulties. And they are more responsive.

秦大使：疫情持续给经商和往来带来了很大困难。当前全球正经历疫情新一波反弹，在中国一些地方也有所抬头。中国政府始终把人民生命安全和身体健康放在第一位，采取了非常严格和果断的措施来遏制疫情蔓延，我们称之为“动态清零政策”。我们努力防止病毒从国外输入，所以国际航班有所减少。旅行是不方便，一些人甚至无法成行，但都是暂时的。许多美国企业人士告诉我，他们在中国奉行“在中国，为中国”。我认为现在是外国公司同中国人民共渡难关的重要时期。疫情迟早会缓解或结束，期望旅行能恢复正常。中方充分了解外企在华情况，这就是为什么从中央政府到地方政府，都更密切地与外企互动，倾听他们的要求和困难，并更积极作出回应。

Flannery: For the last couple of years, I’ve taken the lead in organizing a conference that brings together cancer experts from China and the US. And the goal is to identify kind of people-to-people exchange that advances trials for new drugs. For this type of program, the IP is all on the table. International collaboration can accelerate the timeframe for getting new drugs onto the market. It seems to me this is an interesting, worthwhile area for collaboration between the US and China. China has, of course, many of the world’s cancer patients and the US does also. Do you see any areas that are similar to that where people-to-people collaboration that brings about shared benefits can help the relationship between the two countries?

范鲁贤：过去几年，我牵头组织了一个会议，将美中两国的癌症专家聚在一起，目标是建立人与人的交流来加快新药试验进度。在这种项目里，知识产权都是公开的，国际合作可以加快新药入市。我认为这是一个有意思也有意义的双边合作领域。两国有许多癌症患者。您认为在哪些领域人文合作能够带来共同利益并有助于两国关系发展？

Ambassador Qin: People’s friendship is the key to state-to-state relations. What we are doing every day is to benefit our people and benefit people of the world. Over the past decades, people-to-people contacts between China and the United States have been so close. Before COVID, every year there were 5 million mutual visits going between two countries. And we have 234 pairs of sister cities. People-to-people friendship lays the foundation of China-US relations. And I think the passion and interest between our two peoples for a good relationship, for a more cooperative relationship are still here. 

秦大使：国之交在于民相亲。我们每天工作的宗旨是造福两国人民，造福世界人民。过去几十年间，中美两国民间往来非常密切。新冠疫情暴发前，两国每年人员往来达500万人次，有234对友好城市。民间友谊是中美关系的基础。我认为，两国人民对发展两国良好合作关系的热情和兴趣仍然存在。

Recently, I visited the Heartland of the United States, and I was so impressed, I was so touched by American people’s warm, hardworking attitude and friendship towards Chinese people. I went to the farmland to learn how they do their modern agriculture and to learn from them how important their exports to China are for their families. I went to classrooms to learn how students share their love for Chinese language and their understanding of Chinese culture. And I went to universities, talking with their presidents. They all told me that the Chinese students are good students and the Chinese students set a high bar for all the students. And I talked to them. In New York, I went to the Juilliard School. It’s a well-known music school and they told me that they opened a school campus in Tianjin, China, attracting international students, training music talents. And it’s going well. These are very positive developments and give us hope for the future of China-US relations. 

最近，我访问了美国腹地地区，印象深刻，美国人民热情、勤劳和对中国人民的友谊深深打动了我。我去到田间地头，了解他们如何从事现代农业，也了解到对华出口对他们的家庭有多么重要。我走进教室，听学生们分享对汉语的热爱和对中国文化的理解。我走进大学，校长们告诉我，中国学生是好学生并为所有学生设立了很高的标准。我和他们都进行了交流。访问纽约时，我参观了著名音乐学校茱莉亚学院，他们告诉我，他们在中国天津开设了分院，吸引国际学生、培养音乐人才，目前进展顺利。这些都是非常积极的进展，让我们对中美关系的未来充满希望。

But at the same time, we are worried that there are some negative factors in the people-to-people relations. For example, in the United States, the Asian Hate sentiments are on the rise. We have seen more crimes targeting at the Chinese people. And there are Chinese profiling that makes many Chinese students and scientists, scholars of Chinese descent fear, and feel the chilling effect. Nothing should cut off the people-to-people contacts and friendship. We shouldn’t let disinformation, lies, prejudice to stand in the way of our people-to-people relations, and shouldn’t let them create isolation and division between our two peoples.

但同时，中美民间交往中的负面因素令人担忧。例如，在美国“仇亚”情绪和针对华裔的犯罪增多。针对中国留学生、华裔科学家、学者的所谓审查引起他们恐惧并引发“寒蝉效应”。两国人民友谊和交往不应被阻断，不能让虚假信息、谎言和偏见阻碍民间往来，造成两国人民的隔绝和分裂。

So my role here, as the Ambassador, is to do my best to promote the good mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and American people. We can do more in many areas. For example, climate change, culture, education, and medicine. Just now you mentioned cancer. Over the past 40 years, the China-US collaboration on cancer is going on very well. They are still the one of the highlights of our people-to-people relations. So we are very happy to see that with the sponsorship of Forbes magazine in the past two years, each year there was an academic symposium attracting experts of both countries to discuss the cancer, clinical trial. This is very important because we have many cancer patients in China. Every minute China has eight new cancer patients. And in the United States, cancer also is one of the major diseases. And the US has advanced technologies and drugs. And in China we have many patients and also we have our advantages in diagnosis and treatment of cancer by using traditional Chinese medicine. So experts and doctors of both countries, they come together to talk to each other and have joint researches. This is very meaningful and can benefit the two peoples. I do hope this kind of collaboration will go on as other cooperation in people’s areas.

作为大使，我的职责就是尽最大努力促进中美两国人民之间的相互了解和友谊。在许多领域我们可以做得更多，例如气候变化、文化、教育和医疗。你刚才提到了癌症，过去40年来中美癌症防治合作进展顺利，目前仍是双方合作亮点之一。我们很高兴看到，在《福布斯》杂志的支持下，过去两年每年都会举办学术研讨会，两国专家共同讨论癌症和临床试验。这很重要，因为中国有很多癌症患者，每分钟就会新增8名癌症患者。癌症也是美国的主要疾病之一。美国有先进的技术和药物，中国有很多患者，同时在中医诊疗癌症方面也有优势。中美专家和医生在一起交流、开展共同研究很有意义，将造福两国人民。希望这种合作能够像其他人文领域合作一样继续下去。

Flannery: Even though you were able to meet a group of Midwesterners upbeat about the relationship with China, and people like ourselves have been working to bridge the two countries for a long time. I have to point to a survey that came out yesterday by the Pew Research Center, which pointed out that a majority of Americans at the moment do have an unfavorable view of China. That’s increased a little bit from a year earlier. Did you happen to see that survey? And what do you make of that? 

范鲁贤：大使先生，尽管您见到了很多对美中关系持乐观态度的中西部人，也有像我们这样一直在努力架起两国间桥梁的人，但我不得不提起皮尤中心昨天公布的一项民意调查显示，目前大多数美国人对中国持负面看法，比例比一年前略有增加。您是否看过了这个民调？对此有何看法？

Ambassador Qin: I think the result of that survey failed to give people a whole picture of China-US relations, particularly people-to-people relations. It’s not objective. As I said earlier, here in the United States I’ve met people of different communities. I went to the subnational (level) and talked to businessmen, farmers, students, teachers, workers. Nobody told me that they don’t like China. Most of them told me that they were interested in China. They wished China-US relations well. They wanted to do business with China. They wanted to learn Chinese. They wanted to go to China. Everybody asked me when the COVID restrictions will be lifted, we want to go, we want to go tomorrow. The foundation is still there. But if there is something negative, I think this is because of the disinformation, rumors and even lies fabricated and spread by some anti-China politicians. And they are being played up by some media. But it’s not the whole picture. 

秦大使：我认为这个调查未能展示中美关系的全貌，特别是民间关系，并不客观。在美国我结识了方方面面的人士，去了一些州和地方，和商人、农民、学生、教师、工人交谈，没人告诉我不喜欢中国，大多数人表示对中国感兴趣，希望中美关系发展好。他们想和中国做生意，想学汉语，想去中国。大家都问我，疫情限制措施什么时候解除，希望明天就能去中国。所以两国民间友好基础仍在。如果有负面看法，我认为是一些反华政客编造和散布的虚假信息和谎言造成的，同时被一些媒体炒作放大。这不是中美关系的全部和真实面貌。

Flannery: I hope you can continue to get out and visit different groups in America. I hope perhaps to see you in New York at some point, and maybe up in Vermont. Thank you very much for being with us today.

范鲁贤：希望您继续到美国各地走走，接触不同的群体。期待未来能在纽约或者佛蒙特州再次见到您。谢谢您今天接受采访。

Ambassador Qin: Thank you for coming and thank you for your questions.

秦大使：谢谢。