From left: Former Chinese Ambassador to Sweden Lyn Fengding; American University Professor Quansheng Zhao; former Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN Wang Yingfan; and former Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhou Xiaopei talk about China’s foreign policy and China-US relations in a seminar held at the American University on Monday. Chen Weihua/China Daily

He suggested that China, the US and ASEAN countries work together to ensure freedom of navigation. Wang said Americans should support Chinese initiatives of sharing resources there.

He said that if the US can help to persuade its allies and related countries to agree to do that, it will be a big help to settle problems there.

Wang stressed that China wants to have a peaceful rise, to have a strong relationship with the US.

"We do not want to challenge the United States or drive out the US from Asia or from anywhere," he said.

Despite the challenges, Wang said he is optimistic about the relationship.

"I think our cooperation will be more wide-ranging and go deeper and deeper in different fields," he said.

He cited the agreement reached on cybersecurity as a good example of how the two countries should address their differences. "I think that's the way our bilateral relations should go," he said.

Cybersecurity, which had made frequent headlines in previous years, has become less intensive an issue after President Xi Jinping state visit to the US last September, when the two sides reached consensus on certain issues.

Lyn Fengding, former Chinese ambassador to Sweden, said there has been great progress in bilateral relations thanks to the efforts by both sides.

Acknowledging that there have been problems, Lyn said that such issues require the two sides to come together to have discussions "so that some settlement and some compromise can be reached".

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com