Panel: Xi-Trump friendship arises

The recent summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump resulted in at least one major accomplishment, according to a panel discussing Sino-American relations — both leaders established a personal relationship.

"The US and China need this kind of relationship, (and when) Trump said that 'we have good chemistry' in describing his relationship with Xi, that was very important to the Chinese," Xiaobo Lu, a professor at Barnard College, said at the sxith annual China Prospects Conference on Saturday at Columbia University in New York.

Under the overall theme of China: Global Conversations in the New Era, Lu and Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution; Zhe Sun, co-director of the China Initiative at Columbia; and moderator Fred Teng of the America China Public Affairs Institute discussed US-China Relations in the New Era under Trump.

Li called the summit in Florida "very successful" and noted that the People's Daily described it as "a trip of friendship".

Lu said it was important that Trump changed positions on one of his signature campaign positions, as he declined to label China a currency manipulator.

"Does this mean a new Trump?" asked Lu. "We don't really know."

Sun discussed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the China-US relationship, and said China is caught in the middle as the US and the Republic of Korea (ROK) continue to pressure the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Sun said China appears to have three main policy objectives in the dispute: that both Koreas should reach an agreement, that the US and DPRK need to talk directly, and once that occurs, there should be negotiations involving other countries.

Li called the tension between the US and DPRK the "biggest challenge to regional security. Things have now reached a point where China, the US, North and South Korea and perhaps other parties like Japan and Russia need to deal with this in a more serious way."

Li believes that common ground among Chinese and US leaders may be found in the goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula situation via phone on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, US Vice-President Mike Pence arrived in the Republic of Korea (ROK) during his first trip to Asia and was expected to talk with the ROK side about issues related to the DPRK.

Pence's visit to the ROK followed the DPRK's failed test-launch of an unidentified missile earlier in the day. The missile was fired from the DPRK's eastern coastal city of Sinpo, but it exploded during launch.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com