Important China-U.S. annual dialogue mechanism likely to continue: U.S. experts

The annual high-level China-U.S. dialogue is such an important venue for promoting cooperation and managing differences that it is likely to continue under the next U.S. government, U.S. experts said Tuesday.

The eighth round of Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), the last under the Obama administration, concluded on Tuesday in Beijing with fruitful results.

"High-level dialogue is essential to the Sino-American relationship, even if there are territorial issues that are causing tension," Dan Mahaffee, vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua.

He was referring to the South China Sea issue, which has strained the China-U.S. ties recently due to their differences. Despite the controversy, the two sides nevertheless agreed to continue cooperation on other varied areas to deal with regional and global challenges together.

Indeed, China and the U.S. over the past seven years have achieved a lot of tangible results through cooperation on such important issues as climate change, Iranian nuclear deal, denuclearization of Korean Peninsula, and fighting Ebola.

Mahaffee said that though the two sides remain apart over the South China Sea issue at this year's dialogue, they more likely tried to insure that disagreement did not derail cooperation in other areas.

"Cooperation is still required in many other areas (than the South China Sea), and the dialogue is helpful to reject the notion that the U.S. and China are doomed to fall into a Cold War-style, zero-sum balance of power," Mahaffee said.

Aiming to break the historic curse of great power rivalry that a rising power is doomed to clash with an existing one, China has been advocating for building a new model of major-country relationship with the U.S. free of conflict and confrontation, through mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

Commenting on the past seven rounds of S&ED, Timothy R. Heath, a senior research analyst at the RAND Corporation, said that this year's dialogue showed that both China and the U.S. recognize the importance of ensuring a stable, cooperative relationship.

"Despite differences, both countries can contribute to international peace and stability through cooperation on concerns," Heath told Xinhua.

Holding the annual high-level dialogue is important for stabilizing the relationship, promoting cooperation, and frankly addressing differences, he added.

"Although the dialogue may not resolve all differences, they provide an important venue for officials to manage tensions," Heath said.

Due to the importance of the annual dialogue, this mechanism is likely to continue, Heath said.

"Prospects for world peace and economic prosperity depend in no small part on a stable, peaceful U.S.-China relationship. The next U.S. President is likely to find the dialogue mechanism a useful venue for furthering the relationship accordingly," he said.

His view was echoed by Mahaffee, who predicted that whoever may be elected the next U.S. president, he or she will probably continue the dialogue mechanism.

"Given that there will be a wide range of issues beyond the South China Sea that will also be unresolved after this dialogue... it will be up to the next U.S. administration to inherit these unresolved issues, and continuing the dialogue will be necessary to address these and other issues," Mahaffee said.

Other experts advised that the annual dialogue mechanism needs to be reformed in the future to make it more effective.

Dougals Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Xinhua that the current mechanism is a little "bloated" as it involves about 500 officials from various government agencies on the two sides.

"The S&ED needs to be reformulated to meet the priorities of China and the next U.S. Administration," Paal said. Enditem