Informal get-together of Xi and Obama has increased mutual understanding about new model of relations between powers

President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, met on Friday and Saturday at the Sunnylands estate in California. The informal summit was unparalleled in the history of relations between the two countries, as the talks were held less than three months after Xi entered office. His predecessor Hu Jintao visited the United States three years after becoming China's top political leader and Jiang Zemin paid a state visit to the US four years after becoming president.

The arrangement this time reflected the importance that both China and the US attach to the development of bilateral relations and the two countries' desire to inject new vitality into their relations through frank and constructive talks.

During the meeting, the two leaders spent more than eight hours together, talking informally without outside interference. Generally, formal talks between the heads of state or hastily arranged meetings on the sidelines of international summits are not favorable to in-depth discussions about bilateral, regional and global issues of common concern, nor do they offer enough time to build up rapport, which is necessary for strategic mutual trust between countries.

The informal meeting between Xi and Obama enabled them to talk frankly about issues of common concern and was conducive to the two leaders getting to know one another.

After weathering the global financial crisis the US economy is beginning to recover, while China has grown to be the world's second-largest economy during the crisis period. With the end of the US' decade-long anti-terror war and the withdrawal of forces from two major overseas battlefields, it is now accelerating its strategic rebalancing toward Asia to tap into the economic vitality of the Asia-Pacific region and focusing more on competition and cooperation with China, a rising power with growing regional influence.

Maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea between China and some of its neighbors have flared up in recent years, and Washington has a decisive influence on the policymaking of nearly all the countries involved in maritime disputes with China. Therefore, China has been keeping a close eye on the US' policies and actions concerning the Asia-Pacific region.

Although relations between China and the US have experienced a lot of twists and turns over the years because of their mutual suspicion and different strategic concerns, China is committed to building a new type of relationship between the two major powers, a relationship featuring mutual respect and cooperation rather than conflict and confrontation.

During their meeting, Xi reiterated that both sides should work hard to build a new type of relationship between big powers and cooperate with each other for win-win results, which would be in the interests of both countries and the world.

Xi said that China-US relations now stand at a new historical starting point. From economic development and a global economic recovery, as well as various international and regional hotspot issues and global challenges, the two countries share important and extensive common interests that require they strengthen exchanges and cooperation.

Washington knows the need for cooperation with China, and partly accepts the logic of a "new model" of power relations. Obama responded actively to Xi' proposal, saying that the US placed great importance on its relations with China and is willing to construct a new state-to-state cooperation model with China so as to jointly meet various global challenges. US National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon also said that a rising power and an established power are not destined for conflict, and he also called for the two countries to build a new model of relations between an existing power and an emerging one.

However, some in the US are suspicious of this "new model" and continue to view China as a potential adversary.

But the two-day summit has had a positive influence on redefining the world's most important bilateral relationship, and has gone some way to overcoming the suspicion between the two sides.

The author is a researcher in the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily USA 06/13/2013 page11)