Casual but cautious summit

At their meeting at Sunnylands, Xi and Obama talked about both traditional issues such as trade, investment, human rights and the military, and new issues such as cybersecurity and space programs. Due to their own interests, neither made immediate concessions or compromises on these issues. However, the positive attitude held by both sides on such issues as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, China's ongoing disputes with Japan on the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands, and its rows with some Southeast Asian nations on territorial claims in the South China Sea indicate the possibility for cooperation between China and the US on other important issues.

The importance of the summit can also be seen in the dispatching of a special envoy to China by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea prior to the event, and Japan's wish to have dialogue with Beijing.

However, we should not have excessively high expectations of what the summit achieved, in order to avoid possible disappointments. A summit meeting alone is unlikely to lead to a full entente. An important bilateral relationship such as the one between China and the US should not be built solely on the personal bonding between their leaders.

Some Japanese media claim Xi received a better reception than the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and have concluded that ties with the US are decided by national strength, but that does not mean there have been fundamental improvements in security, as indicated by the subsequent US-Japan islands-taking drill.

The history of international relations indicates that conflicts between countries cannot be avoided by closer economic and trade ties. Instead, they might possibly cause more dangers if efforts are not taken to avoid a conflict.

The US should realize the changes taking place in the international order and accept a rising China before pushing Beijing to undertake more international responsibilities, such as how to maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region and safeguard the fruits of World War II. Washington should also realize that its Asian rebalancing strategy and its measures to encourage Asian nations to encroach on China's interests will not help it reap the benefits that it can get from cooperation with China. Such measures will only drive China to accelerate steps for military modernization.

Any US insistence that China's rise should proceed in accordance with US-designed rules will likely result in conflict. During World War II, the US chose to be on the side of justice, and it should refrain from any actions that will push it to the opposite side of justice on the Diaoyu Islands issue. A US without a sense of justice will not contribute to world peace and development.

China's history of foreign exchanges also indicates that any unilateral unprincipled concessions will not help defuse troubles forced on it.

What China and the US should pursue is a new type of relations between big powers, one based on cooperation and mutual benefit, rather than antagonism. How to avoid conflicts will test the wisdom of the leaders of both China and the US.

The author is a professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China.