by Julia Pierrepont III
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- At an upbeat celebration here on Saturday marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), two prominent members of the U.S. House of Representatives took to the podium in support of China's progress and to decry the harm of the trade war launched by the current U.S. government.
"Over the past 70 years not only China has grown, but our relationship with China has grown. That relationship - not just economically, but for world peace - is one that we should be growing through cooperation, not competition," said Congresswoman Judy Chu.
"This trade war is harmful to both sides and threatens the important relationship between the United States and China ... trade war is taking us back decades, once again putting competition over cooperation," the concerned congresswoman told the crowd of 700 attendees.
Chu, the first Chinese American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, serves as the U.S. Representative for California's 27th congressional district in San Gabriel Valley area.
She commended China's economic miracle that lifted 800 million people out of poverty in just four decades, appreciating that Chinese investment in the United States has created jobs for American workers as well, many right here in California.
"In 2017, China's investment supported 150,000 American jobs. But I worry about the effects of certain legal actions (by the federal government) that are harmful to Chinese businesses, like BYD."
BYD, a Chinese-owned business in Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County that's leading the way with electric buses, employs over 800 U.S. workers and has plans to expand up to 1500.
Chu pointed out that actions taken against Chinese companies by the U.S. administration also boomerang against U.S. citizens, given the large scale of Chinese investment and Chinese-owned companies operating in the United States.
"This kind of factory might be shuttered by a proposed ban on federal funds for buying transportation products from China," Chu explained. "The proposed ban wouldn't just hurt the company, but hurt 800 American jobs that pay well."
"Fortunately we were able to fight back against this ban and when the House of Representatives voted for the National Defense Authorization Act this year, we were able to remove this ban," she explained to the crowd.
However, the U.S. Senate will still need to agree to the revised language during the conference, so the issue isn't out of the woods yet.
She also spoke of her grave concern about attempts by the federal administration to treat Chinese Americans differently, or biased policies toward students and workers from China.
The congresswoman closed her remarks by saying "We need to work together, we need to build connections and commonalities, and we know that the United States and China have so much more to gain through cooperation than competition, our future depends on it."
Congressman Mark Takano, the U.S. Representative for California's 41st congressional district, also addressed the event, acknowledging the significance of the occasion and China's achievements since the founding of the PRC.
"I salute China for these remarkable achievements in such a short period of time," he said. "Part of that achievement was also born of the tremendous relationship (that has) begun 40 years ago between the United States and the PRC."
He advised that "If there is a competition between our countries, it is a competition to see who can be better at progress, who can be better at a greener deal for the planet, and who can be better at building sustainable cities, better at building high-speed rails."
