NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) — There are many key areas such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic where the United States and China have the opportunity to cooperate so as to not only avert disaster but also serve their common interests, a U.S. historian said recently.
“Avoiding climate catastrophe is certainly a key area in which they would be well-served by cooperation,” Lawrence Wittner, professor emeritus of the Department of History at the State University of New York at Albany, wrote in an article published Sunday on U.S. publication History News Network.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how easily disease can spread and disrupt the lives of people around the world and, particularly, how no nation is safe until all are safe. In this area, too, it is vital to mobilize the advanced medical and scientific resources of the United States and China in a cooperative effort to safeguard global health,” Wittner wrote.
Besides, bilateral cooperation on economy “could reduce global poverty, outlaw multinational corporate malfeasance, and regulate trade,” whereas joint efforts in fighting against crimes “could address cyberattacks and piracy,” he wrote.
Wittner noted that over the decades, the two countries have joined hands in “stopping Ebola, reducing the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, averting global financial catastrophe, and assuring food safety.”
The U.S. historian also noted the joint statement on climate change cooperation issued between the two countries in April.
“Cooperation between the two nations is not as far-fetched as it might seem,” he wrote.
China to maintain stability of monetary policy: PBOC
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) — China will stick to a normal monetary policy while keeping it stable and independent, a central bank official said Tuesday.
The policy aims to improve support for the real economy and create a suitable monetary and financial environment for the country’s high-quality development, Sun Guofeng told a press conference. Sun is head of the monetary policy department of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
The central bank will ensure that the growth of money supply and social financing matches nominal economic growth, supports the green development and technological innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises, and keeps social comprehensive financing costs stable with slight declines, Sun said.
China’s new yuan-denominated loans totaled 12.76 trillion yuan (about 1.97 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, up by 667.7 billion yuan from the same period last year, central bank data showed Friday.
The shift of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has little impact on China’s monetary policy and financial market, considering its declining interest rate of 10-year treasury bonds, the two-way fluctuations of the yuan exchange rate, the stable operation of the financial market, and the steady and positive trend of China’s economy, Sun said.
The PBOC said Friday that the country would cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points for eligible financial institutions from July 15 to support the real economy.
The RRR cut is a regular operation after the country’s monetary policy returned to pre-epidemic status. The direction of the prudent monetary policy has not changed, Sun added.
