BALLAST OF REGIONAL PEACE, PROSPERITY

More positive interaction between China and the United States and joint efforts to promote regional prosperity and stability represent the common aspirations of all the countries in the region.

Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke has said that the key issue in safeguarding security in the Asia-Pacific region is the orientation of the China-US relationship.

All Asian countries are eager to see closer relations between China and the United States, said Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, adding it is a good signal that the two countries have expressed the broad Pacific Ocean vast enough to embrace both nations.

Chheang Vannarith, co-founder and chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, said that the China-US relationship is very important for the whole world, especially for the Asia-Pacific region.

Improved relations will help in political stability, security and development around the world, he said, adding that good communication between the two countries' leaders is particularly important.

"In the Asia-Pacific, China and the United States are both extremely important for the regional countries. Southeast Asian countries don't want to pick a side between the two powers, since the trade relations with China and security cooperation with the United States are both vital for them," Peter Cai, a China expert of News Corp. Australia, told Xinhua.

Senior Associate of Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Vikram Nehru told Xinhua that because of the rise of China, many Asia-Pacific countries are being drawn into the Chinese economic orbit and China has become the largest trading partner of all the countries in the region.

"I think it is fair to say that all these countries have improved and increased their bilateral relationship with China just as they have improved their relationship with the United States," Nehru said.

He said that more than 50 countries, including many Asia-Pacific nations, have become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which showed they have taken more mature stance.

"I think the United States would have been well advised to follow that particular strategy. That will be good for the AIIB, for Asia and for the United States," Nehru said.

David Dollar, another China expert at the Brookings Institution, said many Asia-Pacific economies, such as Australia, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam want to be part of both Chinese initiatives (the AIIB and the "One Belt, One Road" ) and the American effort to reduce trade barriers. "These different efforts are in fact complementary."