Summit to build trust between two leaders

To Li Cheng, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution known for his study of Chinese leaders, the China-US relationship is fundamentally a people-to-people relationship, and he believes it's important that the summit meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama produces greater trust between the two men and even friendship.

The US political and business communities have high expectations for Xi and Western media coverage of Xi so far has been generally positive, Li said.

"This makes his trip to the US this time ever more important for Americans to get to know him better," said Li, also director of research of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Washington-based liberal think tank.

Xi arrived at Sunnylands, the 200-acre desert retreat in Southern California, on Thursday night for his two-day meeting with Obama.

Li said the timing is important because US leaders want to better understand the direction of China's foreign policy.

In a letter to Obama in January, Li proposed that the administration build a deeper relationship with Xi and his new leadership team to maximize cooperation in various areas.

Li said the US has responded positively to China's call for a new type of major power relationship. "This means that the relationship should not be a zero-sum game but could have lots of cooperation," he said.

Li believes such a concept is significant because he said it precludes both ideological and military confrontation. It also calls for the two nations to expand cooperation, respect each other's core interest and avoid drifting into two different camps, Li said.

A recent report on China-US economic relations in the next 10 years by the China-United States Exchange Foundation identifies areas where the world's two largest economies, which are each other's second largest trading partners, will benefit from more cooperation. For example, US exports to China in 2022 are likely to hit $530 billion, more than three times the current level.

An advocate of strong US-China relations, Li said he is concerned that issues such as the territorial disputes in the East China Sea could trigger a China-US conflict.

"Although the odds are low, the consequence is enormous," he said. "We should not exaggerate them, but we should be fully aware of the issues.".

Li said it's important that Xi and Obama discuss more interactions between the two nation's militaries to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculations.

Bilateral military exchanges have been on the rise in recent years. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy has accepted a US invitation to participate in the Rim of the Pacific naval exercises in 2014 near Hawaii.

Li, author of several books on China's political and economic transformations, said US leaders and the business community also care about possible economic reforms by China.

He said he is upbeat about the economic team Xi and Premier Li Keqiang have assembled because it includes many capable people.

"I am relatively optimistic, because without economic reforms, the challenges will be serious," Li said. "Economic reforms will benefit American companies and a US economic recovery, but it will fundamentally benefit China."