Mapping out the path ahead
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China and the US are highly interdependent and the joint statement outlined the long-term framework for future ties.
The joint statement issued by President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama during Hu's just-concluded state visit to the United States is expected to guide the development of Sino-US relations in the second decade of the 21st century.
Hu's visit came after the turbulence, frictions and increased mutual suspicions that arose during the past year and it was hoped his trip would help restore mutual trust and revive healthy relations.
China and the US have forged a highly interdependent relationship and both countries benefit from mutual cooperation and suffer from any disagreements. As the world's two largest economies, Sino-US relations are becoming the most important bilateral relationship in the world, with a growing strategic and global significance.
During their meeting, the two presidents mapped out the basic long-term framework for future ties, indicating the two countries' willingness to pursue and ensure their respective interests in a positive and cooperative manner.
The visit helped reverse the antagonistic momentum that had developed in bilateral ties and re-established the two countries as "a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit".
In the US-China Joint Statement, the two countries said they "reaffirmed their commitment to building a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive US-China relationship for the 21st century", one that serves the interests of "the American and Chinese peoples and the global community".
The US also reaffirmed that it "welcomes a strong and prosperous China that plays a greater role in world affairs" and Hu acknowledged the positive and constructive role played by the US in the Asia-Pacific region, a stance that will help ease Washington's long-held misgivings toward China's possible intention to drive the US out of East Asia. The two countries also agreed on the vital importance of maintaining a peaceful and stable Korean Peninsula and vowed to check dangerous situations on the peninsula.
The two countries stressed again the importance of realizing a nuclear weapons-free world and strengthening the global non-proliferation regime to tackle the threat posed by nuclear proliferation and terrorism.
There was also consensus that climate change and energy security were two of the most important issues confronting the international community. Both countries agreed "to continue their close consultations on action to address climate change, coordinate to achieve energy security for our peoples and the world, build on existing clean energy cooperation, ensure open markets, promote mutually beneficial investment in climate friendly energy, encourage clean energy, and facilitate advanced clean energy technology development".
