Xi-Obama meeting to create new climate for world economy

BEIJING - Sunny California, the choice of location for an upcoming meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama, speaks volumes for the hopes the two countries cherish for the future.

As the global economy remains gloomy, the meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies is expected to help create a new climate for world economy.

"A basket of economic issues" will be discussed by the two presidents in California, said Myron Brilliant, executive vice president of the US Chamber of Commerce.

While meeting with former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang said China would like to work with the US to deepen cooperation in all fields, promote bilateral economic integration and create a mutually beneficial environment for the businesses of both countries.

Economic ties between the two countries have become an anchor for bilateral relations. Annual bilateral trade in goods has amounted to nearly 500 billion US dollars in recent years.

"We are in the early years, with problems getting more complex. Each side needs more commitment to solve those problems," said Carlos Gutierrez, former US Secretary of Commerce, comparing the economic relationship between the two countries to a marriage.

China has been dissatisfied with US limits on the export of high-tech products to China, as well as its economic protectionism, which bars many Chinese investors from the US market.

Meanwhile, the US often grumbles that the Chinese currency is undervalued. Other sources of complaint include China's state-owned enterprises, intellectual property protection, market access and cyber security.

The weekend summit will be a good chance for China to enlighten the US on the efforts and achievements China has made and receive answers from the US regarding China's concerns.

"We're so economically interdependent and that will not change, that cannot change, we cannot go backward," said US Ambassador to China Gary Locke at a Tuesday press conference.

China will overtake Canada and Mexico to become the United States' largest export market by 2022, according to a report compiled by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, the Ministry of Commerce and the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The report said US exports to China will at least triple from their current level to reach 530 billion US dollars and create a GDP worth 460 billion US dollars for the United States, as well as create more than 3.34 million jobs, an increase of 2.63 million compared to 2010.

Daily bilateral trade has exceeded 1 billion US dollars and the two economies are highly complementary, Locke said at a symposium marking the release of the Chinese version of the report.

"We can find tangible ways to expand our relationship through vehicles like bilateral investment treaties," Brilliant said.

Participants in the recently concluded fourth annual US-China CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue advised conducting a feasibility study for the possibility of building an FTA between China and the United States.

They also agreed that free trade agreements should adopt an open-architecture approach.

"China and the US have no other option but to work together," said Tung Chee-hwa, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman of the China-United States Exchange Foundation.