Opinion

Progress on Sino-US ties, but a great deal still to do

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-01 10:39
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Progress on Sino-US ties, but a great deal still to do

Qian Liwei, researcher at the US research center of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations
The second round of S&ED, which concluded on May 25, mainly highlighted achievements in two fields.

First, the palpable outcome, as Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has said, was a long list of agreements between the two sides, advancing joint research on clean energy, electric cars, the oil and gas industry and dialogue on both traditional and renewable energy.

The other achievement was on the macro level, with the two countries carrying out in-depth discussions on a number of specific issues related to global and bilateral relations.

The US has made clearer commitments on its financial and debt problems, and both countries also reached some degree of consensus on the issue of China's MES.

China also referred to US concerns on China's policy to encourage domestic innovation, on which I believe China is likely to introduce some specific measures in the future.

In my opinion, this year's dialogue was a step forward compared with the first one last year.

Since the end of last year, friction between the two sides occurred on a number of issues, including those regarding US arms sales to Taiwan, Google and the exchange rate of the yuan.

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Favoring positive cooperation in the 21st century as stated by President Hu Jintao, I believe that this dialogue will play a role in advancing bilateral relations and expanding cooperation between China and the US.

As both sides deal with the changing domestic and international environment, continuous communication and mutual understanding is quite necessary.

This dialogue provided a very good platform for both Washington and Beijing to address their views on issues of common concern.

Political, economic or military issues and the structural contradictions between China and the US cannot be solved through one dialogue, but need further exploration through dialogue and communication in the longer term to reach a consensus.

Sometimes, even if no consensus is reached, mutual understanding may be enhanced between the two sides, which in itself is also very meaningful progress.