Chinese embassy hosts cultural event with tea and music

The envoy invoked history to ground his appeal, recalling the 1784 voyage of the Empress of China, which returned from Guangzhou with a cargo of tea, marking the beginning of US-China trade.

He also cited late Chairman Mao Zedong's gift of Oolong tea from the Wuyi Mountains to US President Richard Nixon during his 1972 historic trip, describing tea as "a bond between Eastern and Western civilizations."

"Tea offers China's wisdom to solve the world's problems through a peaceful path, and bears witness to the history of China and the US?ending estrangement and seeking win-win cooperation," the envoy said.

While tea may be his favorite topic, Xie also addressed matters that are not his "cup of tea": the tensions between the world's two largest economies.

He noted that China-US relations are at a "critical juncture" and warned against efforts to isolate or decouple the two societies.

"Neither a cold war nor a tariff war should be fought or could be won, and neither economic decoupling nor attempts to cut off people-to-people ties would find any support or ever succeed," he said.

Different countries and cultures need to pursue common development through mutual respect and seek common ground despite differences, so as to flourish together, he added.

In his speech, Xie recalled the phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump a day before, their second since January.

"It is our hope that the US side will work with China in the same direction, follow through on the important consensus reached between the two presidents during their phone calls, roll back erroneous moves taken against China, and create the necessary conditions for bringing the relationship back to the right track," he said.

Friday's event, organized by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the embassy, also commemorated International Tea Day, which falls on May 21.