It is already a worldwide consensus that China and the United States, the two giants sitting on the opposite end of the Pacific Ocean, play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the vast region between them, whose eminence in global affairs is growing each and every day.
It is against such an epic backdrop that there is a growing sense among Chinese, U.S. and Asian officials and experts that Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming first state visit to the United States could further promote the positive China-U.S. interaction in the Asia-Pacific and thus make the Pacific Ocean more live up to its name.
President Xi, a staunch advocator for common peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, has made it clear time and again that "the broad Pacific Ocean is vast enough to embrace both China and the United States."
He has also repeatedly urged the two sides to honor their commitment to actively interact in the Asia-Pacific region, encourage inclusive diplomacy, and jointly play a constructive role to bolster regional peace, stability and prosperity.
With their shared important responsibilities for the region, China and the United States have been carrying out multi-level and multi-field communication and coordination in the Asia-Pacific. Bolstered by Xi's upcoming visit, such coordination and cooperation will not only be a blessing to the two countries, but also a boon to the Asia-Pacific and the world as a whole.
TESTING GROUND FOR NEW MODEL OF MAJOR-COUNTRY TIES
In recent years, China and the United States have been making joint efforts toward building a new model of major-country ties, featuring no-conflict and no-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation.
Many officials and experts in both nations believe that the Asia-Pacific region should become a "testing ground" for the task.
"What we (China and the United States) are doing to build this new model of relationship will certainly give us very good guidance for our interaction in the Asia-Pacific; what we are doing in the Asia-Pacific together will give more substance to this new model of relationship," Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the United States, said in a policy speech in Houston in May.
"I believe our ongoing efforts for constructive interaction in the Asia-Pacific region will be an important pillar of this new model of relationship. And the region will be a testing ground for this new model," he added.
"In the Asia-Pacific region, China and the United States need to negotiate and cooperate, instead of acting on the free will of their own and 'splitting' the ocean. The Asia-Pacific region should be the testing ground for China-U.S. win-win cooperation," said Ruan Zongze, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS).
Jia Xiudong, a senior research fellow at the CIIS, also pointed out that as a region where China-U.S. interests are most intervowen and their interactions are most intensive, the Asia-Pacific should become a core testing ground of the two nations to explore a new model of major-country ties.
"It must succeed, or the cost of failure will be too huge for any country to bear," he added.
"Whether China and the United States can eventually build a new model of major-country relations mainly depends on their interaction in the Asia-Pacific," Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies, Fudan University, told Xinhua.
In fact, the process of building a new model of major-country relations between China and the United States, there are not only many successful precedents of positive interaction in the Asia-Pacific, but also a large number of contemporary examples.
Jeffrey Bader, an expert at the Brookings Institution and former China policy adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama in the National Security Council, wrote recently that East Asia has avoided major military conflicts since the 1970s, which is owing to the maturity and good sense of most of the states of the region.
Besides, it is due to the reconciliation of the Asia-Pacific major powers, the United States and China, initiated by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger and nurtured by every American administration and Chinese leadership since, he wrote.
On the political and strategic level, the two countries have established Asia-Pacific consultation mechanism. In military ties, which are considered to be the most vulnerable part in bilateral relationship, the two sides also have conducted several joint military drills including the first China-U.S. disaster relief exercise in Hawaii in November 2013.
The two countries have also maintained fruitful communication and coordination on hotspot topics in Asia, such as the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and Afghanistan.
