Opportunity knocks

After wrapping up his trip to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico, President Xi Jinping will meet US President Barack Obama on June 7 and 8 at the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, California. The meeting, coming amid a complex and changing international security and economic situation, has attracted worldwide attention, with the international community waiting to see whether China and the United States can balance their cooperation and competition and jointly find a way to work together and develop their relationship.

Where are relations between China and the US heading? While meeting with visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry on April 13, Xi called on both countries to take a strategic and long-term view of their relations, carry out dialogue and cooperation with a positive attitude, deal with their differences with mutual respect and blaze a trail for a new type of relations between major powers; one that features equality, mutual trust, tolerance, mutual learning, cooperation and common prosperity.

On May 27, President Xi met with the US National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon and noted that both sides should make joint efforts to build a cooperative partnership and a new type of relationship between two major powers, as this would be in the interests of both peoples and the peoples of the world.

Xi has said that he believes if both sides make the necessary efforts, the meeting with President Obama will inject new vitality into the development of the relationship between China and the US, which will promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. Donilon said that the US and China share extensive common interests and the US side is firmly committed to properly handling the differences between the two sides and working with China to strengthen exchanges and cooperation and efforts to address the many global challenges.

It is expected that during the meeting, Xi and Obama will exchange extensive and in-depth views on major strategic issues of mutual interest to deepen understanding, enhance mutual trust, and promote pragmatic cooperation, laying a solid foundation for establishing a new type of relationship between two great powers. To this end, Xi will emphasize the strategic significance of the two countries building a new type of relationship.