Better Angels at the Chinese Embassy

By New Worker correspondent

People’s China and the USA are locked into a trade war that effects the day-to-day lives of millions of Chinese and American workers. Nobody knows how it will all end but a mutually beneficial way forward is charted out in a documentary that was shown last week at the Chinese embassy in London.

The thaw in Sino-American relations began during the ‘ping-pong’ diplomacy of the Nixon era. The US leader would end decades of confrontation when he met Mao Zedong in 1972.

The film begins with a warning from Richard Nixon’s foreign secretary, the now 95-year-old Henry Kissinger, declaring: “If we are to clash, it would be a disaster for the whole world.”

Better Angels is a documentary focusing on Sino-American relations seen through the eyes of major players and ordinary people on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Nearly 100 people from all walks of life joined Chinese diplomats at the screening of Better Angels and the reception, jointly organised with the Asia House business forum. They included Chinese diplomats Chen Wen and Ma Hui from the Chinese Embassy in London, along with the film’s director, British born film-maker and two-time Oscar winner Malcolm Clarke.

Chen said in her speech that Better Angels, which was filmed over five years across four continents, touched the audience with stories of ordinary Chinese and Americans, and revealed the wisdom and hope for Sino–US relations. She shared her views on how to achieve understanding and trust between big countries. First, “we should bridge over mysteries between cultures” she said. "We could bring our people together and cement public support for our bilateral relations."

Second, we should tear down the wall of prejudice and misgivings, and engage in consultation and cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect, openness and friendship.

Third, guided by Xi Jinping ‘Thought on Diplomacy’, we should build a community with a shared future for humankind and blaze a new path of state-to-state relations by building a new type of international relationship featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win–win co-operation.

Forty years have passed since China and the USA established their diplomatic relations. The past experience and enlightenment of Sino–US relations show that the co-operation between the two countries will benefit not only the two nations but also the whole world.

After the screening, Director Malcolm Clarke answered questions from the audience. He said that China has a long history and a splendid civilisation. In its 40 years of reform and opening up, China has created a “miracle of development”. There is always an "information deficit" between China and the West however.

Not everyone can appreciate China’s development, and the extraordinary and far-reaching significance of the “Chinese miracle”. He hoped that this film would reduce the misunderstanding of China, and that more good films showing the true Chinese image and the story of ordinary Chinese people would appear in the future.

The audience, marvelling at China’s achievements, said that the world now needs to know more about China.