Despite some differences, China and the United States have been working together cooperatively on a wide range of issues at the United Nations.

Sheba Crocker, the US assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, said that the US is particularly pleased to see China, as its economy has grown, taking a greater share of financial responsibility at the UN and increasing its commitment to the organization's peacekeeping efforts.

Sheba Crocker, US assistant secretary of state for international organization aff airs

Starting this year, China is sharing 7.92 percent of the UN dues, up from 5.15 percent previously. China's contributions now trail only those of the United States and Japan.

Among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has dispatched the largest number of UN peacekeeping forces.

Crocker said on Thursday that the two countries have been working together on issues relating to Afghanistan.

"We will see this year in particular our cooperation on peacekeeping and on Afghanistan as important indicators of how we work together in the UN system," she told a seminar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Crocker noted that the range of issues the two countries work together on, on a daily basis, is enormous, adding that the two countries have "a very important relationship" and "very important responsibility" as P5 members of the UN Security Council.

Crocker acknowledged that the two countries don't always agree.

China, Russia and other countries have been deeply upset over what they saw as the US and NATO's abuse of the UN Security Council resolution on a "No-Fly Zone" over Libya in 2011 to support a regime change. The North African nation is now plagued with serious violence, despite the US and NATO's promise to turn it into a democracy.

Since then, China and Russia have vetoed several Security Council resolutions on Syria so as not to lend excuses for the US and others to pursue a regime change agenda there.

Ted Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, said that China, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has an important role to play in collective efforts.

"That may require some difficult decisions on the part of Chinese leaders about the desirable extent of such involvement," Carpenter said.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com