At the meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and the President of the United States George W. Bush, an optimistic and positive keynote was set for the bilateral ties in the next four years. Both leaders stressed to continue close cooperation in order to maintain the peace and prosperity in Asia and Pacific region and to benefit the whole world.

China News Service cited Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao's report on November 22 as saying that the point of view mentioned above is formed based on Chinese and US fundamental interests, which require the two sides to develop cooperation. However, as shown in the public speeches by the two leaders after the meeting and the talks between the senior officials before and after the meeting, although the two countries' interests have a lot in common in their interests, their understandings about core interest are not necessarily the same. Therefore various misunderstandings and conflicts are still likely to appear.

The article said, Chinese senior governmental officials have emphasized many times that Taiwan is not only the most important and most sensitive issue in Sino-US relations, but also touches China's core interest. This is a caution to the US side, with US ways of expression, to pay attention to China's determination to solve the Taiwan question, because, just as Americans know, there is no room for compromise when talking about the national core interest.

The core interest of the United States in the Asia and Pacific region is to maintain the stability and the prosperity there because the region is witnessing the fastest economic growth. China, the Republic of Korea and Japan play active roles in the economic resurgence of the Unites States, so, should there be instability in the region, huge interest of the US will be hurt.

It is noted in the article that if Taiwan authorities went farther and farther in their "gradual Taiwan independence", while the United States, who is able to stop it, turned a blind eye to it or even connived at it deliberately, the Chinese government might at last make a painful decision to prevent Taiwan from being alienated by non-peaceful means. Should that happen, the US core interest will be damaged as well. Therefore the core interests of the two countries are actually connected with each other.

At last the article reckoned, despite quite different ways of thinking between the Chinese and the Americans, the just-ended summit meeting should be able to add a bit sense of urgency among the Americans on the cross-Straits situation. As for how the Bush administration is to respond, it might still depend on how the US side evaluates President Hu's remarks.

By People's Daily Online