Xi-Obama summit successfully reaffirms Sino-US ties

The summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama was a "successful reaffirmation of the special relationship" between Beijing and Washington, said former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

Brzezinski's comment came after the two-day summit, the first of its kind between the two leaders, concluded in the Sunnylands estate in California on Saturday.

The former U.S. national security advisor under the Carter administration told Xinhua via phone that he was encouraged by the fact that both leaders, "guided by a sense of awareness how important this relationship is to the entire world," were able to discuss issues "in a thoroughly business-like fashion and with a constructive effect."

"So I consider this summit to be one of the more important ones in the modern American-Chinese history," Brzezinski noted.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi said Saturday in California that during their summit, the two heads of states increased mutual trust, reached consensus on an array of issues and mapped out a blueprint for China-U.S. ties, and these achievements signal the opening of a new chapter in cooperation across the Pacific Ocean.

During the summit, Xi summarized the concept of new type relations between the two nations in three phrases -- "no conflict and no confrontation," "mutual respect" and "cooperation toward win-win results," said Yang.

Regarding these three phrases, Brzezinski commented: "I think President Xi used excellent formulations, guided by the knowledge that ultimately their relationship is critical to both countries and is also of enormous importance to global stability."

Despite the remaining differences, he said he was upbeat that both Beijing and Washington are capable of managing them.

"I have increased confidence that both sides will make a serious effort to find compromise formulations because they are both aware of the importance of the relationship to their own long-term interests," he said.

Brzezinski agreed with the notion that the summit can serve as a start of a process for the strategic rapprochement between the two countries.

"I think that has to happen," he said. "We have to learn how to live with differences, perhaps even with some occasional tensions in the relationship, but always be guided by the realization that if the relationship becomes sour, it will be mutually damaging."

And if it is mutually destructive, he noted, it will also damage the interests of some other regions and countries in the world, such as Europe, Japan, India, Russia and Brazil.