The ball in America's court

Barack Obama will be sworn in as US president for a second term on Jan 21. Obama's re-election as US president and Xi Jinping's election as China's top leader have intensified global discussions on whether the two countries' ties will improve or deteriorate and whether a new power-to-power relationship will develop between them.

During his visit to the United States in early 2012, Xi had said that China and the US should forge a new type of relationship, which was a goodwill gesture by Beijing to Washington.

Sino-US relations have progressed from one of confrontation to reconciliation and cooperation over the past decades. The US has to act wisely to make its ties with China "a little more comfortable" on the road to deepening mutual interdependence and a new relationship that would suit both countries.