Heart-to-heart for healthy ties(2)

Of course, there are diverse opinions on all these issues and the dialogue has previously reached consensus mostly on paper. However, both parties have become aware of this concern, and they are now seeking more concrete results.

Most importantly, the 6th US-China S& ED comes at a time when bilateral relations are worsening and in dire need of rebalancing. The dialogue provides a platform to bring relations back on an even keel.

Ties between the two countries were progressing quite smoothly after President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama met for informal talks at the Sunnylands Estate in California last year and reached a consensus on building a new type of major-power relationship. Yet relations have worsened this year with the US blaming China, instead of Japan and its other allies, for the escalating tensions in the territorial disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

The US used to adopt a neutral stance toward these disputes, now it only claims to be neutral, while in both words and deeds it is taking sides against China. When Obama visited Japan this April, he said that the US-Japan mutual defense treaty applies to China's Diaoyu Islands, but he made no similar statement to the Republic of Korea about its territorial dispute with Japan; in other words, the US' intention of "containing" China is obvious. The US government has also been backing Vietnam and the Philippines in their territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

The US' deeds and improper words have naturally soured relations with China. From the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures, held in Shanghai this year, to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the US and Chinese representatives have often argued fiercely with each other.

For the US, China's establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea and its firm stand against the sovereignty challenges of Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines are tests of its patience. For China, the US is clearly trying to contain it.

Such attitudes are detrimental to strategic mutual trust and we hope the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue can guide the bilateral relationship back onto the right track.

The author, Fu Mengzi, is vice-president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.