President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States highlights the importance of the close relationship between China and the U.S., even as tensions between the two countries have been simmering lately over cybersecurity, South China Sea territorial disputes etc.

Disagreements on particular issues are normal in any relationship. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Xi responded to those concerns and reiterated his support for pushing forward with market-based reforms for a more balanced Chinese economy.

These, if they work, should go some way to assuaging the concerns of Western businesses investing in China. Indeed, Xi’s visit to America includes a number of meetings with business leaders, including a visit to Tacoma, Washington’s Lincoln High School on September 24 for people-to-people exchanges.

On disagreements, Xi said: “Naturally, we have some differences; even family members don’t always see eye to eye.” However, he said those issues could be resolved through respect and accommodation.

Addressing foreign business concerns about regulation unfairly discriminating against them, Xi pointed to figures showing China is still the most attractive country for foreign investment. China received over US$120 billion in foreign investment in 2014, leading the world, and Xi cited a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai that showed 95 percent of businesses remained bullish on China.

Indeed, when the American stock market dropped by 1,000 points early in trading on August 24 in response to falls on Chinese markets, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded by saying, “I continue to believe that China represents an unprecedented opportunity over the long term as LTE penetration is very low and most importantly the growth of the middle class over the next several years will be huge.”

Cook’s confidence in China’s consumer economy points to another aspect of Xi’s economic policy. When the reform and opening up first started, it was manufacturing that drove the economy. Later, manufacturing was overtaken by services, but exports were still crucial. Now China has built up a middle class, and rising affluence makes it harder to compete with other developing countries on wages, so China must transition towards consumerism. The domestic middle class can drive the economy by purchasing more for themselves.

This is what Xi is talking about when he said, “What China needs is a higher quality and efficiency of economic development by successfully addressing the problem of unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development, so our economy will be put on a more solid basis and go forward more steadily. We are stepping up efforts to shift our growth model, make structural adjustment and place greater emphasis on developing an innovation and consumption-driven economy.”

He had been asked about recent jitters in the economy, particularly the stock market, which fell from 5,170 to 3,130 in four months; that came after the stock market had doubled from November 2014 to June 2015, so it was definitely overheated.

China responded by injecting money into the market, putting controls on selling by major investors and other interventions that raised questions of how committed the government was in the stated goal of letting markets play a “decisive” role.

Xi defended State intervention by saying that other countries with market-based economies intervene in extreme cases. At the same time, he pointed to reform proposals already completed or in the planning stage. Eighty “major reform tasks” were “basically completed” last year, he said, and over 70 major reform plans have been introduced this year.

However, reform wouldn’t work overnight. In any country, it is a difficult process, especially one as large as China, and many countries had faced problems that crippled their growth when trying to make reforms too quickly or without proper controls.

“Reforms upset some vested interests, and cause changes to the careers and life of some people [so] it is only natural that there will be difficulties.”

To analyze the results of these policies, one had to take a long view. Xi compared the journey of reform and development to that of a ship on a long voyage. “Any ship, however large, may occasionally face unstable conditions sailing on the high sea,” he said.

If one looks at the journey of China since 1978, one can see clearly that the direction has been overwhelmingly towards reform, despite shifts and recalibration along the way. Whether or not Xi’s policies live up to their promise is something we won’t know for a long time. However, his visit to America should give businesses confidence to stay the course.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.