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Xi-Obama summit exceeds expectations in stabilizing China-US ties

Source: Xinhua | October 2, 2015, Friday | Online Edition

THE just-concluded summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama has exceeded expectations in terms of stabilizing the China-US relations, a veteran US China expert told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

"I think it achieved those expectations and maybe exceeded those expectations a little bit," said Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.

"The goal is to stabilize the US-China relations as the US enters what will be two years or more of really turbulent domestic politics and a transition to a new administration," Paal said.

He was referring to the 2016 US presidential elections, during which the US ties with China are expected to become one of the hot topics in debates held by presidential candidates.

"And in those times, China relations will be buffeted in our political circles here by all kinds of pressures, and statements and facts and non-facts uttered in the political campaigns," Paal said.

"So we need the leaders to have some reasonable understanding of the limits of what they are going to do and the things they will not do. But I think that was largely achieved," he said.

During their talks last week, Xi and Obama reached a series of consensuses and agreements on managing differences and deepening cooperation in dealing with major challenges such as combating climate change and aiding global development.

Paal said that the agreement by the two presidents to start a high-level dialogue and a hot line on cyber security, one of the most contentious issues between the two sides, is an "additional unexpected benefit."

The first meeting of the cyber dialogue is to be held by the end of this year and will occur twice per year thereafter, according to the list of 49 results from the Xi-Obama summit.

Going forward, Paal expected more interactions between the two presidents "to keep things managed," including at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) informal leaders' meeting to be held in the Philippines next month, the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington in March 2016, and the G20 summit to be hosted by China in November 2016.

Paal also lauded the agreement by the two sides to increase cooperation on combating climate change as "a positive thing."

China and the US "can do it together and try to move the conference in Paris in December forward by providing leadership to countries that may be more reluctant to join in carbon reduction process," Paal said.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Paris, France, where countries will try to clinch a binding deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is the first time in a while where the script seems to be written for a successful conference in Paris," Paal said, citing that the increased China-US cooperation will give "a big boost" to the success of the conference.

"So it has a benefit internationally. I think it was important for the US to adjust its position with respect to Chinese role in the international financial institutions and in international aid assistance," he said.

Commenting on the importance of the Xi-Obama summit, which has been held annually since the 2013 informal summit at the Sunnylands in California, Paal said he, as the first expert to propose the idea, thinks that the two leaders need "to find a way to get the mountaintop view of our relationship."

He urged the US to figure out a way to absorb -- and not resist or contain -- the rise of China, without yielding its own existing interests and structures that have provided peace and security for the Western Pacific and, more broadly, since World War II.

"This is a tough challenge," Paal said. "People talk about the Thucydides trap and the likelihood of the two countries coming into conflict, and of China pushing the US out of Asia and of the US resisting China's rise in Asia, but those are all poor formulas for the challenge that faces leaders now."

Paal acknowledged that to reduce misunderstanding and suspicion between the two sides, "it may have to be something that's only done incrementally, step by step as we go forward."

He noted that since the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs held by Beijing in November 2014, there have been "a new wind in the air" in China and "you see a more concentrated, integrated and active Chinese diplomacy in a broader sphere."

In addition to the contribution to tackling climate change, China also expanded its role in battling the Ebola crisis, and is expected to increase its involvement in fighting terrorism, in the Middle East and Eastern Europe as China's interests there will be inevitably growing, Paal said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has just wrapped up his first state visit to the United States since taking office in 2013. Xinhua is wiring a series of in-depth stories on China-US relations and the historic visit.

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