China-U.S. cooperation on various bilateral, regional and global issues is crucial at a time of unprecedented global political and economic shifts, a panel of top experts said Thursday. The two great powers should manage their differences appropriately to prevent them from dominating the bilateral relations, the experts said at a forum on China-U.S. ties held here at the Brookings Institution.
"The areas we can cooperate on are far weightier than the areas of competition," Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said. Brookings Institution's senior fellow Kenneth Lieberthal said both the United States and China agree to "cooperate where we can, seek to manage differences and keep them from dominating the relationship."
"We agree that on issues around the world, the issues become more manageable where we can work in parallel, and less manageable and more dangerous where we cannot," said Lieberthal, former senior director for Asia affairs on the White House National Security Council. "I think that manifests itself reasonably successfully in our bilateral relationship and on global issues," he said. For example, the China-U.S. military-to-military dialogue is "much better than we've ever had before," he added, noting, however, Asian regional issues are a major exception. "We have cooperation globally and bilaterally. Where the rubber hits the road is in the Asian region," the senior China expert said.
The experts also shared their opinion about how the U.S. media portrays China-U.S. relations, with some saying it tends to over-emphasize the negative areas of the relationship and overlook the positive aspects. "I think the U.S. media has its own unique characteristics" and probably is more eager to report "something sensational", Su told Xinhua after the panel discussion. Still, he believes the U.S. media is doing its job. "There are more and more reports about the positive sides of the U.S.-China relationship, like the trade relationship, people-to-people contact, and so on."
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