Experts urge more China-US cooperation in Mideast

WASHINGTON -- The United States and China should find common ground and cooperate more in the Middle East in order to help strengthen stability and progress in the region, US and Chinese experts said Monday.

The Middle East is a place where China and the United States could play complementary roles, said Yang Jiemian, chairman of the Council of Academic Affairs in Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

The United States and China should tackle the challenges together in the region under the concept of new type of major-country relations, he told a panel discussion held in the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based public policy think tank.

His remarks were echoed by Rudy de Leon, former US deputy secretary of defense and now a senior fellow at the research institute.

Noting that the United States and China will set a different course in the 21st century, de Leon suggested the two economic heavyweights forge a better working relationship on the critical issues in the Middle East and find ways to make a constructive response in dealing with extremism.

"The US and China should not act against each other in the region," he added.

Other experts at the seminar spoke highly of the P5+1 bloc, which groups Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, for their efforts in the Iran nuclear negotiation.

The P5+1 is not only a good way in dealing with the Iran nuclear issue, but also a long-term mechanism to carry out dialogues between world major powers such as the United States and China, according to those experts.

They also called for more US participation in the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative as it will bring more opportunities to the Middle East.

The "Belt and Road" initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

It aims to revive the ancient trade routes between Asia and Europe, a network that connects more than 60 countries and regions, with a total population of 4.4 billion.