Upcoming Obama visit ‘milestone’: Rice

In a trip to firm up arrangements for a second one-on-one summit between Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November, top White House national security aide Susan Rice Monday said Obama's upcoming visit represents an "important milestone" in Sino-US relations as she met with officials in Beijing Monday.

Although Rice's trip was aimed at reinforcing that China remains a top priority in US foreign policy despite turmoil and tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine, analysts questioned whether any "milestone" agreements on core issues will be reached. The US pivot to Asia looks increasingly anemic, while at the same time stoking China's perception that the US wishes to contain it, they said.

At the opening of a meeting with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Chinese ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai, Rice said Obama "views this visit as an important milestone in the development of our important relationship."

"The president asked me to travel here - even as there are many other issues on our shared global agenda - because of the priority he attaches to US-China relations," she said.

Yang said that China is ready to work with the US on the presidential consensus, advance bilateral dialogue and cooperation in all fields as well as "carefully manage differences on sensitive issues" to ensure that the Sino-US relations will continue to move forward.

"The current international environment has further highlighted the strategic significance for China and the US to jointly build a new model of major country relations," Yang said.

The trip is Rice's first official visit to China since taking office as national security advisor in 2013. She is scheduled to meet China's defense and foreign ministers Tuesday before departing Wednesday, AP reported.

Her trip comes roughly two weeks after China told the US to stop air and naval surveillance near its borders after a Chinese jet made close passes near a US spy plane off the coast of the island province of Hainan.

"Rice's visit is important in the sense that it helps iron out potential problems and paves the way for Obama's visit, which comes at a critical time and with a critical agenda. A range of important topics, such as the Ukraine crisis, the worrisome situation created by the Islamic State (IS) and territorial disputes in the East and South China Sea will likely be discussed between the two leaders," Niu Xinchun, deputy director of the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

During Rice's visit, the two sides have also agreed to make further progress in exchanges and cooperation in economics and trade, counter-terrorism, military, climate change, food safety and disease control, according to China's foreign ministry.

The summit, which coincides with Obama's visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing in November, will be the second one-on-one meeting between the two world leaders since their first summit in California in June, 2013.

During the first summit, Xi proposed the concept of a new type of relations between the two countries that emphasize "no conflict and no confrontations," "mutual respect" and "cooperation toward win-win results."

"Sino-US relations have faced serious challenges, if not deteriorated, in the past year despite good intentions from the top leaders. The two countries have shown [they have]clear differences on a variety of topics including East and South China Sea problems and the US pivot to Asia. The summit in November could help both countries to 'recalibrate' their strategies," Li Haidong, a professor with the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

However, it is unlikely the US will adjust its pivot to Asia policy despite the current turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine, analysts say.

"The Middle East and Ukraine are the most urgent issues Obama has to deal with. But in terms of importance [instead of urgency], Asia will remain a top US priority," Niu said.

Niu's opinion was echoed by Li, who said that the US pivot to Asia looks increasingly anemic.

"For the past five years, the US repeatedly restated its commitment to rebalance to Asia while in reality its hands are tied as its problems always occur outside of Asia," Li said.

As Rice visits Beijing, other top US foreign policy officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, have been travelling in and around the Middle East to build a coalition to tackle IS. Obama himself is scheduled to detail plans for fighting IS on Wednesday.

Domestic political quagmires have also taken its toll on US foreign policy. Last year, Obama canceled his trip to Southeast Asia due to a US government shutdown.

"It would be difficult for Obama to carry out any of his policies, domestic or foreign, if the US Senate is lost to the Republican Party in the coming midterm election in early November," Li noted.