Interview: Xi-Obama summit to help strengthen understanding: expert

Meetings between U.S. and Chinese presidents will help strengthen their understanding and solve all sorts of issues, said Stephen Orlins, the president of National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR).

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Washington, Orlins said this will be Xi's first state visit to the United States.

Recalling Xi's meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2013 in Sunnylands in California where they had a-day-and-a-half direct conversations, Orlins said: "These kinds of meetings are critical" as they enable the leaders of the two most important countries in the world to "resolve a number of misunderstandings" that exist between the two countries.

Regarding some people's view that tensions around the South China Sea and cyber security may prove very tricky for the upcoming summit between Xi and Obama, Orlins said Obama will push the U.S. State Department and National Security Council, while Xi will push the Chinese Foreign Ministry to have better understanding about issues related to the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

"You need both top down, and bottom up (approaches)," he said.

He hoped that the United States and China will expand bilateral cooperation over a broad range of issues such as search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, the fight against climate change, anti-terrorism and financial cooperation.

"There are areas that interests of the two powers are completely aligned," he said.

In the end, the 21st century is going to be "defined by the relationship between the United States and China," he said. "Whether my children have peace and prosperity is going to be defined by the kind of relationship that the United States and China have."

On any possible breakthrough in the talks between the two presidents, Orlins said investment is one of the real drivers for the constructive U.S.-China relations and that a bilateral investment treaty is an absolute must.

"If we can have the bilateral investment treaty, it will lead to tens of thousands of more Chinese companies coming to the United States to invest and tens of thousands of more Americans going to China to invest and that is terrific positive for the relationship," he said.

Orlins also said Xi's upcoming visit to the United States will provide a very good opportunity for him to address the American people directly.

"It makes him more real and more human to the American people," he said. "He can talk about what the Chinese Dream means for China-U.S. relations ... for ordinary Americans as well." Endi