Fostering China-US cooperation

While the initial US opposition to the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has further reinforced the thinking among many Chinese that the Americans intend to curtail China's rise, Morrison said the US was right to push for the standards, but added that the US perhaps made a mistake "to appear to oppose the whole idea (of AIIB)".

Despite Washington's opposition, virtually all of its major allies in Europe and Asia except Japan have joined the AIIB, which focuses on badly needed infrastructure-financing in the region.

The soft-spoken Morrison said that many Americans aren't too worried about One Belt One Road.

"One Belt One Road in a sense may help stabilize some of the Central Asian states we are very worried about," he said.

Many thought-leaders, such as Robert Zoellick, the former World Bank president and former US deputy secretary of state, hold similar views that China's One Belt One Road initiative also serves US interests, and therefore the US should cooperate more closely with China in the program.

Morrison believes that as long as One Belt One Road operates on good principles, such as on environmental protection, it could be positive for the region.

"I think the way Americans and Chinese deal with each other should be very frank and blunt, but (they should) try to figure out how to use our resources as best we can to cooperate in (areas where) we have common interests, and over time, expand those common interests," he said.

As a supporter of TPP, Morrison has been disappointed with the way US domestic politics have played out, with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump blasting the deal and Democratic contender Hillary Clinton also saying it was one she would not have negotiated.

Morrison is pessimistic about the prospect that the TPP, a free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, will be approved by the US Congress in a lame-duck session later this year, something that the Obama administration is making a desperate last-ditch effort to pass. "That won't happen," he said.

Morrison, who has devoted much of his life to regional economic integration, called for patience, and said regional integration is a long-term process.

He believes that China will continue to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations on a RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), but that eventually there will be some kind of agreement.

Many experts believe that TPP and RCEP will finally evolve and merge into something like the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

Morrison attributed the stance that Americans believe China is challenging US hegemony and dominance, as the Chinese believe the US is trying to contain China, mostly to domestic politics in the two nations.