With Donald Trump in the White House, China wants better mutual understanding with the US

Chinese envoy to the US warned the two countries against being excessively suspicious of each other's strategic intentions. Cui Tiankai urged both Washington and Beijing to take more efforts to develop mutual understanding.

Cui was addressing a film screening commemorating the 1979 normalisation of US-China ties on Wednesday (16 November). Referring to president-elect Donald Trump's rants against China during election campaigning, the ambassador said that after "a most unusual political season" it was important for the two nations to build consensus and identify common ground.

"There are people here in the United States who believe that everything that China does is aimed at challenging the United States's global dominance, and there are people who believe that everything the US is doing is aimed at containing China.

"I think both views are wrong," Cui said, noting that despite cooperating on many fronts, both China and the US will now have to make conscious efforts to be "careful not to be overly suspicious about each other's strategic intentions".

With uncertainties about Trump's foreign policies and his stand on China, Cui said there would inevitably be problems and challenges in the coming four years, "but ... I am quite confident that, on the whole, the relationship will move forward on a stable and right track".

"We both want stability in the world. We both strive for a stronger global economy, and we both need a better natural environment. Common goals call for a close partnership," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Earlier in the week, Chinese President Xi Jinping called Trump to congratulate him on his victory and emphasied on Sino-US relations. Xi reportedly told the president-elect that the only choice for the world's two largest economies was cooperation.