Top China expert wishes big for summit

Updated: 2013-06-07 11:47

By Cai Chunying in Washington (China Daily)

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Top China expert wishes big for summit

Longtime China hand Chas Freeman, the principal American interpreter during Nixon's 1972 groundbreaking China visit, has big wishes for the Xi-Obama meeting.

"I really think the framework we are operating within is pretty near the end of its useful life," Freeman told China Daily. "I hope they will have a strategic discussion in which they will talk about the new framework for US-China relations that Mr Xi proposed when he talked about 'a new type of great power relationship'.

"We need to come up with something new to reflect the tremendous interdependence between the two countries economically and the strength that exists between us politically and in the military sphere," he added.

Freeman became the deputy chief of mission at the newly-established American embassy in Beijing after China and US normalized relations in 1979. He later served as director of China affairs and then deputy assistant secretary at the US State Department in the 1980s. He is now the chair of the consultancy company Projects International, which facilitates international business ventures.

Planning an informal meeting for Xi's first US visit since he became the Chinese president in March is wise, Freeman said. The private meeting will take place in Rancho Mirage at the Sunnylands estate, once owned by the late publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg.

"The invitation to Mr Xi reflects the sense that we need to get beyond the often stereotypical exchanges that have occurred in the past, and there really needs to be more time spent between these two very important world leaders than the usual meetings allow.

"One of the reasons this meeting is taking place is the sense that Mr Xi is able and willing to discuss things informally," he said. "That's a good way to make progress."

Freeman believes China and the US share much common ground,and the key barrier for them is a lack of mutual trust and confidence.

"We need to do things, and we need to think of things, that can provide that kind of trust and confidence," Freeman said.

Mutual investment will also be an essential part of the long-term strategic framework of US-China relations, he said.

Both sides should "reach an agreement in which China might invest heavily in rebuilding US infrastructure, which will enable China to take its excess holdings of dollars and turn them into concrete profit-producing investment and would help the US recover economically," he said.

On looming-large trade issues, Freeman urged the two leaders to "think about pledging not to pursue free trade or other agreements that would exclude each other".

charlenecai@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 06/07/2013 page9)

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