New, practical way of thinking makes China-U.S. dialogue successful

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The first round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) ended here Tuesday, with the two countries pledging to intensify ties and expand cooperation on major international issues and shared challenges.

Both countries have also vowed to work jointly to boost their economies and the world economy amid the current recession.

Political analysts said it is the new and practical approach taken by both China and the United States that has rendered the dialogue a success.

MOOD OF COOPERATION

Many have noticed that this major contact between the two economic giants has been conducted with a mood and sense of cooperation, as both sides understood that only by cooperating with each other can some thorny issues be properly solved.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama have already set the tone for the high-level meeting, which aimed to find solutions to such pressing issues as financial crisis, regional and global security problems, environmental deterioration and sustainable development for human beings.

In his congratulatory message to the dialogue, President Hu said: "China and the United States bear responsibility for important issues which relate to the peace and development of humankind, and share broad common interests and extensive room for cooperation."

Obama echoed Hu's view, saying that "My confidence is rooted in the fact that the United States and China share mutual interests. If we advance those interests through cooperation, our people will benefit and the world will be better off -- because our ability to partner with each other is a prerequisite for progress on many of the most pressing global challenges."

In his closing statement on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner said, "Recognizing that cooperation between China and the United States will remain vital not only to the well being of our two nations but also the health of the global economy, we agreed to undertake policies to bring about sustainable, balanced global growth once economic recovery is firmly in place. "

This kind of cooperative mood pervaded the whole process of the two-day dialogue, which ensured a friendly exchange of ideas and views between the two sides.

CARING FOR EACH OTHER'S CONCERNS

China and the United States share many common concerns, as they also have their respective concerns and differences. However, the two sides seldom blamed each other while expressing their own concerns.

During the dialogue on climate change, contrary to some speculations that the two sides would have arguments and disputes, they agreed to carry out positive actions according to their respective responsibilities and capabilities after both sides recognized each other's significant differences in national circumstances, stage of development, historical responsibilities and capabilities, according to Vice-Minister of China's National Development and Reform Commission Xie Zhenhua.

Insiders said China had voiced its concern that massive U.S. stimulus spending might spark inflation that would erode the value of the dollar and China's holdings of U.S. government debt, while expressing understanding for the U.S. need to pull its economy out of the mire.

In their respective constructive gestures, China agreed to further fuel its domestic consumption to reduce its reliance on exports to U.S. markets, while Geithner pledged that the United States would toughen its financial regulations to avoid a Wall Street meltdown.

COMPLEX SITUATION MAKES BILATERAL TIES STRONGER

Both China and the United States have realized the world has changed dramatically and the global situation has never been more complicated with one thorny issue after another emerging from various fronts and places. The world has never faced with more challenges than it does today.

On the economic front, for example, the world is facing "the most serious global economic crisis in generations," as put by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Tens of thousands of factories including those in China were forced to close down as a result of the financial crisis originated in the United States. Millions of people across the globe have become jobless. This is a situation that major countries like China and the United States have to deal with.

American foreign policy, shaped for decades by the Cold War with the former Soviet Union, is adjusting to post-Cold War realities. The dangerous but relatively simple bipolar world of two competing nuclear superpowers has dissolved into a unipolar or multipolar world, which is evolving to be more complicated with the financial crisis as a tipping point.

U.S. foreign and national security policy has already shifted from containing the Soviet communism to addressing conflicts in smaller, but still dangerous hotspots throughout the world, including Afganistan, the Korea Peninsula, Iran and some other areas.

For China, the current global economic recession also posed a great challenge to its economic and social development, as a slowed-down pace of development to some extent would mean possible social unrest, which will definitely damage its achievements scored over its three decades of hard work.

Therefore, it is only natural that China, the third largest economy in the world, and the United States, the superpower, would go to the meeting room to find solutions together in the face of the common challenges and woes brought forward by the current tough world situation.

MUTUAL NEEDS PLAY BIGGER ROLE

The economies of China and the United States are closely intertwined. China holds more than 800 billion dollars in U.S. Treasury securities, and is Washington's biggest creditor. This status heightens Beijing's influence over Washington and increases its exposure to the battered U.S. economy.

China hopes the United States would adopt policies that will protect the value of its investments.

On the one hand, the United States is obviously concerned about China's possible selling off of its U.S Treasury securities as well.

The U.S. administration projects that its deficit for this year will hit 1.84 trillion dollars, a record high and four-times higher than the previous mark set last year.

All in all, both China and the United States have adjusted their policies so as to adapt to the changing situation. Both countries are keenly interested in each other's economic recovery and cooperation in world affairs so as to create a win-win outcome.

by Xinhua writers Wang Jiangang, Zhao Yi