Ambassador He Yafei is a prolific former Chinese diplomat who has witnessed and participated in many key global events. China-US Focus editor-at-large James Chau sat down with Ambassador He for an interview on a wide-range of issues, including  a global order under stress, the growing US-China rivalry, and how China manages to achieve growth while working to address social challenges.

In this video, Ambassador He shares one of the key learnings from China’s reform and opening-up – free trade is a growth driver. He believes the trade dispute will be resolved eventually, because the “severance of the two largest economies will be a disaster”, and that turning trade disputes into a geopolitical issue results in “hitting a wall.”