Decoupling from China a serious concern: Bill Gates

The last few years have seen voices arguing for the decoupling between the United States and China, which is a serious concern, said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"The interdependence can lead to dialogue for mutual understanding," Gates said while attending the ongoing New Economy Forum in Beijing.

Bill Gates [File Photo: VCG]

He added that the United States welcomes many tourists and students from China, and U.S. companies sell a lot of products and conduct research in China.

The United States has thrived intellectually by being a very open country with high-level research and development, which has been the benefits of the U.S. itself in terms of pharmaceutical companies, software technology companies and other firms, Gates told the forum.

If there isn't that level of cooperation and trust in stopping pandemics, climate change or terrorism, that's going to be a huge challenge, he said.