China-US summit prospects
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E-mail China Daily, May 22, 2013
The importance of China-US relations and the clout of each country on the world stage guarantee that the upcoming summit meeting between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama will be an attention-grabbing event.
The China-US summit, the first since Xi took office in March and Obama began his second presidential term, is scheduled on June 7 and 8 in California. It is an invaluable occasion for the two leaders to compare notes face to face and find a way to anchor the still volatile relations between their countries.
The meeting will offer a golden opportunity to recalibrate the trajectory of what is widely perceived as the most important nation-to-nation ties in the world.
In more than three decades, bilateral ties have gained both width and depth, and the two sides have become increasingly mature in seeking common ground, channeling differences and keeping disputes at bay. The sheer size of their cooperation in a wide range of fields indicates their common interests far outweigh their differences.
Since taking the helm of the country, Xi has said on several occasions that Beijing is willing to build a new type of relationship between major powers based on mutual respect, mutual trust, expanded cooperation and appropriate handling of differences. He has also urged the input of positive energy into the growth of bilateral ties.
The upcoming summit certainly constitutes an opportunity for the two sides to advance further in this desirable direction.
Beijing and Washington are increasingly being looked upon by the rest of the world to address major issues and conflicts, such as the Syria crisis, the Iranian nuclear standoff, the Korean Peninsula issue and climate change.
With both countries shouldering responsibilities in maintaining world peace and stability, the more they choose to cooperate the less chance there is of these issues spinning out of control. Rather than undercutting each other's efforts in international issues, they should do more to coordinate their stances.
The two should also step up their cooperation in the Asia-Pacific so that the negative impact of the US' strategic rebalancing to the region can be minimized and a much-speculated head-on conflict between the two can be avoided. In this regard, high-level exchanges like the forthcoming China-US summit will be conducive to the countries acquiring a better understanding of each other's real intentions and avoiding any strategic misjudgment.
