Opportunity knocks

China and the US share extensive common interests and have great potential for cooperation in dealing with all kinds of global challenges and regional hotspot issues. The two countries will continue to promote exchanges and cooperation in trade, energy, environmental protection, culture and other areas and will strengthen communication and coordination on issues such as the Korean Peninsula, Iran's nuclear program, Syria and the situation in the Middle East, the sluggish global economic recovery, climate change and other global challenges.

However, some stubborn differences and problems between the two powers need effective management and proper handling. It is always easier to say than to do, and the final establishment of a new type of Sino-US relationship must withstand three major tests.

The first is the geostrategic balance between China and the US in the Asia-Pacific. Washington's strategic rebalancing has further complicated the maritime territorial disputes between China and some of its neighbors. The US' inconsistency in words and deeds over China's bilateral disputes with neighbors has enabled "third-party factors" to directly challenge relations between China and the US.

The second is the competition for markets and the right to work out international trade rules. The US is pushing forward the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union in an attempt to suppress China's increasing international market share.

The third is establishing appropriate standards for cyberspace. Prior to the meeting, the US media are playing up the "Chinese hacker threat" in an attempt to put pressure on China. Speaking at the security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 1, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel publicly blamed the Chinese government and military for computer-based attacks on US government and corporate networks.

Beijing should be fully aware of the complexity of the strategic development in a new period, and steadily promote its diplomatic grand strategy, including its relations with the US, with a sober frame of mind and scientific attitude.

The author is deputy director of World Politics Research Institute, affiliated to the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.