Cooperation key to future Sino-U.S. ties: analysts

Despite the upcoming U.S. presidential polls and the national congress of China's Communist Party, analysts say bilateral relations will continue to go ahead amid cooperation, competition and coordination.

China, the world's largest developing country and the United States, the most developed power, have every reason to be in the spotlight in November with their political events.

Voting will officially start on Tuesday in the United States as President Barack Obama, who is seeking a second term, is in a tight race with his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will open on Thursday. With the elections of a new CPC Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the meeting is expected to make strategic arrangements for the overall advancement of China's reform and opening up.

"Over the past four years, Sino-U.S.relations have moved forward in a basically stable way with the deepening of bilateral cooperation," said Wu Baiyi, a Chinese researcher in international relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

The progress can be seen through mutual visits of the presidents of the two countries, rounds of fruitful strategic and economic dialogue, and military exchanges, Wu told Xinhua.

The economic sector serves as another good example. In the first nine months, bilateral trade between the two nations grew 9.1 percent year on year, compared with a slight fall in trade between China and the European Union and Japan, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

China has long been the second-largest trade partner of the United States, and vice versa. China has been the fastest growth market for U.S. exports for the past 10 straight years, the ministry said. The volume of bilateral trade is expected to surpass 500 billion U.S. dollars in 2012.

However, the two partners have encountered a number of business disputes, such as the U.S. imposition of heavy tariffs on Chinese tires in 2009 and solar panels this year. China has levied anti-dumping duties on U.S. chicken products and auto imports.

"Such trade disputes will still arise in the future given the economic conditions," predicted Niu Xinchun, a researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing.

In its early years,the Obama administration had high expectations of China in terms of cooperation as it saw the energy of a rising power, according to Wu.

"But it seemed that the United States felt it did not get the expected results from China on such issues as the trade imbalance and the appreciation of China's currency Renminbi," the researcher added.

China now has the world's No. 2 gross domestic product (GDP). Experts believe it is just a matter of time for China to surpass the United States in terms of GDP.

Since last fall, the Obama administration has been implementing its "Pivot" policy by expanding and intensifying its political, diplomatic and military involvement in the Asia-Pacific region. The fundamental goal underpinning this shift is to maintain U.S. dominance in the resource-rich and fastest-growing region at a time of heightened concern over China's rise.

As the world's economic center shifts to the Asia-Pacific, the United States made use of its soft power to focus on the area, said Wu. The Asia-Pacific has more importance than before in U.S. global strategy after its troops' withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, analysts have also pointed out.

"The 'return' to the Asia-Pacific region is a significant adjustment of U.S. strategy by the Obama administration, which will increase its competition with China," said Ni Feng, deputy director of the U.S. Studies Institute of the CASS. "But the continuity of the shift is doubtful. The instability in the region may eventually affect its goals."

Some analysts said the shift was actually aimed at dealing with rising China and reflected a lack of trust at strategic levels for the two countries.

They should try to avoid hostility by always keeping open the channels of dialogue, Ni added.

"China and the United States have various joint interests. They have both cooperation and competition. It is their consensus not to engage themselves in hostility," said Wu.

Ruan Zongze, vice president of China Institute of International Studies, described the general framework of Sino-U.S.relations as stable, but accompanied by disputes and dialogues at the same time.

Leaders of the two countries have agreed to build the China-U.S. cooperative partnership in order to explore a new type of relations between major countries.

Internationally, China and the United States have also maintained coordination on important regional and international issues, such as fears over Iran's nuclear stockpiling and tension over the Korean Peninsula.

"For a rising power and a most developed country, to explore a new type of relations requires a change in the way of thinking as well as more equal and balanced relations on the basis of mutual understanding and strategic trust," said Wu.

"Peaceful co-existence and common development will benefit both nations. No matter who wins the U.S. presidential elections, national interests will always be put in the first place."