As well as being a public relations success, vice-president's tour also advanced healthy Sino-US ties in many areas

Vice-President Xi Jinping wrapped up a five-day official visit to the United States on Friday. His visit has played a positive role in helping push forward the implementation of consensuses reached between the two countries and advanced their cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results.

In Washington, Xi met with US President Barack Obama and other politicians and held in-depth talks with his US counterpart Joe Biden. He also met with Senate and House of Representatives leaders and former US politicians who have made important contributions to Sino-US relations.

In these meetings, Xi stressed China's long-held position that China and the US enjoy extensive and important common interests, and that both will benefit from cooperation and suffer from rivalry. He also told his American hosts that the two countries should extricate themselves from obstacles in the way of better relations so they can be permanent friends and partners working together to pioneer a new path that can facilitate harmonious dealings between the world's big powers and promote benign competition and win-win cooperation.

Xi's words were echoed by the US. During his meeting with Xi, Obama stressed to his Chinese guest that the US is committed to pushing forward a cooperative partnership with China and welcomes its peaceful development. Obama also said he believes a strong, prosperous and stable China will aid the prosperity and stability of the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole. Biden also explicitly told his Chinese counterpart that it is not the US policy to pursue containment against Beijing. All these clear-cut reaffirmations and commitments map out the future direction for Sino-US relations and offer important guarantees for their stable and healthy development in the years ahead.

Xi and his US hosts did not avoid talking about bilateral divergences on sensitive issues such as human rights. Xi told US politicians in an outspoken manner that the development and improvement of human rights conditions in China remains a gradual process and both countries should respect each other's chosen path, which are tailored to their own national conditions.

Boosting economic and trade cooperation with the US was also on the agenda. After decades of development, China and the US have established an interdependent and inseparable economic and trade relationship. Nevertheless, some disputes and frictions have also arisen in this process. This remains particularly obvious at a time when the US is still facing a weak economic recovery and plagued by a stubbornly high unemployment rate, for which China is frequently singled out as the scapegoat. The forthcoming US election has also pushed Sino-US ties into the public eye.

To defuse these uncertainties, Xi talked about bilateral economic and trade ties with US leaders in a candid manner and co-attended with Biden a roundtable meeting in Washington that brought together entrepreneurs from the two countries. He also attended an economic forum in Los Angeles. Xi consistently stressed during his trip that bilateral trade disputes should be resolved in constructive ways instead of through protectionist measures.

During Xi's visit, a Chinese delegation headed to the US and clinched deals to buy more than $27 billion-worth of US products. Such a buying spree once again demonstrates that China is serious in its efforts to resolve trade imbalances with the US.

Washington should take corresponding and concrete measures to achieve the same purpose, such as suspending its long-controversial restrictions on high-tech exports to China.

During his stay, Xi also visited Iowa, where he met with the Americans who had been his hosts 27 years ago when he was part of a Chinese delegation visiting US farms, a move that brought him closer to ordinary US citizens and further boosted the already well-established local-level cooperation between the two countries. Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have formed 38 pairs of friendship with US states; 176 pairs of cities from both countries have also built friendly ties.

Many states in the US expect to increase exports to China and welcome investment from China. However, these expectations have been blocked to some extent because of the US federal government. The US administration should realize that the booming exchanges and cooperation between the two countries at the regional level serve as an important driver for the advancement of the Sino-US relationship.

Xi described his five-day visit as a complete success and it has clearly made a deep impression on the US public. Many US observers have described Xi as a self-confident, easygoing and determined politician, an image that will undoubtedly enhance the understanding of the US public about China and its leadership.

The author is a researcher with the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily 02/21/2012 page8)