Sino-US ties in focus as Obama wins 2nd term(2)

In an open letter to the president on Thursday, Kenneth Lieberthal, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a China specialist, suggested that Obama could improve relations with China during his second term by amending the rebalancing strategy.

According to Lieberthal, the strategy is generating dynamics that increasingly threaten to undermine its primary goals.

"It is therefore time to rebalance judiciously the rebalancing strategy, and China's leadership change provides you with an opportunity to do so," Lieberthal said.

Lieberthal believes the relationship has gone in the wrong direction and distrust has grown since the pivot to Asia started less than two years ago.

In his policy recommendation to Obama, Lieberthal said that nobody in Asia wants to have to take sides between the US and China. "All seek 'wise management' of US-China relations. An initiative that improves US-China relations and contributes to regional stability can, therefore, potentially enhance the US position throughout Asia," he said.

Lieberthal and Wang Jisi, a professor of international studies at Peking University, co-authored a paper last year on reducing the strategic distrust between the two countries.

That would "improve the potential for a long-term normal major power relationship between the US and China, rather than an adversarial relationship that might otherwise develop."

Donald Gross, a senior associate at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies suggested that Obama should seize the opportunity created by the emergence of China's new leadership to stabilize relations by pursuing a diplomatic strategy that, among other things, significantly expands trade.

He said the US should keep in mind the profound words of former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

"If the US and China can accommodate each other on a broad range of issues, the prospects for stability in Asia will be greatly increased ... the US must recognize that stability in Asia can no longer be imposed by ... the direct application of US military power. Indeed, US efforts to buttress Asian stability could prove self-defeating, propelling Washington into a costly repeat of its recent wars, potentially even resulting in a replay of the tragic events of Europe in the 20th century."

Chinese pundits also placed high hopes on Obama's second term. Jia Xiudong, a senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, believes a lot of issues between China and the US were exaggerated during the presidential election.

"This year should be a good opportunity to improve the relationship," Jia said.

He also hopes the US lifts exports controls on China and respects China's core interests.

US arms sales to Taiwan and US presidents meeting the Dalai Lama have increasingly triggered outrage in China.

Despite differences, Brzezinski believes that China and the US have managed their differences well.

"My sense is that at least those who shape policies in both countries now realize there is a kind of de facto partnership between China and America," he said.

"That is not a bad conclusion to reach in a very complicated relationship between two countries as different as one can imagine," Brzezinski told Fareed Zakaria on CNN.

Bader believes there is optimism for a smooth relationship from China's new leadership.

He recalled a meeting between him, former secretary of state Madeline Albright, and former president Jiang Zemin in 1997, in which Jiang said that when he first became general secretary, Deng Xiaoping had told him, "you are responsible for China-US relations''.

Deng and Jiang clearly viewed the relationship as one of the essential responsibilities of the leader of the party, Bader said. He said President Hu Jintao also took responsibility for the relationship.

"I expect nothing less from Xi," said Bader.

Obama's nomination of two key cabinet members, John Kerry as secretary of state and Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense are positive developments, analysts believe. Both have supported greater cooperation .

"The simple fact is that we need China, and China needs us,'' said Kerry, who is widely expected to be approved in a Senate hearing on Friday.

"We have to get this relationship right. After all, we are talking about our connection to one-sixth of humanity. The most serious problems we face today, from nuclear proliferation to climate change, can't be solved alone. And, economically, our futures are deeply intertwined and will remain so."

Kerry also criticized the tendency to demonize China and to consider it the next great threat. This viewpoint is not based on reality, he said.

Hagel chairs the Atlantic Council and it issued a recent report saying that US strategy to 2030 must deepen cooperation with China.

The report suggested that the US strategy should accommodate legitimate, essential Chinese interests just as China will need to make reciprocal adjustments in regard to US essential interests.