Newly-appointed US Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson delivered a speech at the end of his visit to China, in which he lifted the strategic position of Sino-US economic and trade relations, assessed China's economic achievements more positively, set proactive policies to deal with US economic ties with the country, and proposed the direction for further bilateral cooperation. During his stay in China, Paulson and Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi announced the creation of a new Sino-US "strategic economic dialogue" in which both nations would aim to grapple with the long-term issues arising from China's emergency as a leading economic power, to implement the consensus reached by President Hu Jintao and US President George W. Bush.

Paulson's China economic policy clearly reflects the pragmatic tendency in the US government's policy toward China as the Bush administration has been trying to seek more effective ways to spur the national interests of the United States,. Sino-US ties are indeed complex with overlapped, multiple interests. After more than 20 years of reform and opening up, China's national interests have also been increasingly more diversified, and Sino-US ties have been enriched and deepened on an unprecedented scale. The people of both nations have become closely correlated to each other in their daily life. Consequently, it is not only crucial but relevant for them to safeguard the stability of bilateral relations with very favorable conditions.

.To date, Sino-US ties have overstepped a period a decade ago with "four major issue blocks." The two nations have launched routine consultations on the issues of Taiwan, human rights, trade balance and non-nuclear proliferation, and conducted a wide-ranging cooperation to increase regional stability and economic growth. China and the United States have inclined to be more identical in their attitude on the issue of "Taiwan independence", maintain dialogues on the human rights issue, and taken the precaution against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery as a "bright spot" in their bilateral security cooperation.

Meanwhile, the two sides are actively cooperating with each other in the war on terror, environmental protection, energy preservation, public health work and so on. Compared with 10 years ago, both the interrelatedness of interests between the two nations and their cooperation has scaled a new height.

Problems keep cropping up along with the increased bilateral cooperation, nevertheless. In China's view, the Taiwan issue remains the core one in bilateral ties; whereas the U.S. is concerned more about the trade balance, exchange rates, intellectual property and other aspects. It is the common needs of both China and the U.S. to tackle these problems properly. How to treat and settle these issues constitutes a trial of the wisdom for both sides.

With the adoption of a mutual-respect attitude in dealing with the state-to-state relations, the respect for objective reality, respect for history and respect for the course of historical progress should be the wisdom China and US display in dealing with their mutual relationships. It is noted that Paulson has given expressions to such a talent in his China economic policy. In his speeches, the ranking US officials are ready and able to understand China, are willing to listen to China's progress and accompanying difficulties and to remove obstacles with a still more cooperative approach.

Such an attitude is both positive and pragmatic, facilitating drawing more respect from cooperators, so it is more favorable for resolving problems, spurring the growth of bilateral ties, and advancing the materialization of their legitimate interests. From this perspective, Paulson will be also able to safeguard the national interests of the United States more effectively and practically.

Among those in the Bush administration, Paulson has the longest record to deal with China, knows the most about its past and present, and sets forth the most effective means to deal with the relations with the country. He provided the Bush team with a fine example of how to cope with the relations with China in a more realistic approach. So that the Bush administration has been prompted to formulate a more pragmatic, viable China policy, which is a positive phenomenon ever occurred since the forging of Sino-US diplomatic ties over 20 years ago.

Paulson has expected even higher for the opening of China's capital market while lowering his tone for appreciating the Renminbi (RMB, As an expert on China affairs, he proposed on the subjects concerning the in-depth economic reform in China, with an aim to involve it more profoundly into the international as a more responsible "stakeholder", so as to expand the width and depth of the future bilateral cooperation. As long as the two nations uphold the concept of mutual respect and truly attend to each other's rational concerns in the course of Sino-American dialogues, China and the United States are sure to make continuous successes in improving the well-being of their people. The high-level Sino-US strategic dialogue in the economic sphere is not only good for bilateral economic cooperation and the development of bilateral ties but also exert a positive impact on the growth of the world economy and global stability and security.

By People's Daily Online; the author Shen Dingli is vice executive president and professor of the Institute for International Study at China Fudan University.