Therefore, as cooperation on regional and international security agenda increases since last year, disagreements between China and the US have also been deepening. Even in the realm of economy and trade, their competitive collaboration has also been deepening. Chinese and American leaders advocate strategic and economic dialogues as well as high-level consultation over people-to-people communication. However, the US has also been doing its utmost to impede China's rapid rise. Seeing the conspicuous achievements China has made in foreign trade and manufacturing since re-entering the World Trade Organization, the Obama administration has proposed establishing high-standard "micro multilateral" free trade and investment zones across both the Pacific and Atlantic, while elbowing out China to enhance the competitiveness of US foreign trade and investments. The two sides' disputes over sovereignty issues and human rights, on the other hand, have never stopped. With "Occupy Central" fermenting in Hong Kong, an additional gaming point has emerged between China and the US.

However, the US faces far more challenges than when Obama became president. Putting aside China's stunning progress, Russia's forceful attempts to alter Georgian and Ukrainian territories, the rapid rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the fast spread of the Ebola virus have dealt successive blows to "peace under US dominance", resulting in severe challenges to the Obama administration itself. It appears that, after being absent from two informal meetings of APEC leaders, President Obama will return to the summit, and personally strive for headway in such fields as regional free trade, anti-terror cooperation and pandemic control. China and the US may agree and collaborate on such issues. Even though there is competition between them, it is possible to contain its negative aspect.

Besides the two-day informal meeting, Chinese and American heads of state will have a one-day meeting. Following the Annenberg pattern, they will discuss a series of bilateral, regional and global topics of common concern in a relatively informal manner. Bilateral topics may include cyber security, maritime issues and Hong Kong; regional topics include the Korean nuclear issue, Iran nuclear issue, and the fight against terror; global ones will cover climate change and pandemic control. The two countries have started cooperation in many of these fields. Now, they need to deepen collaboration and open up new dimensions for their cooperation. As to the more difficult matters of cyber and maritime security, the two countries need to preserve channels of communication, find out a model of minimum cooperation, and thus preserve bilateral ties and promote regional stability.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.h5a3.com/opinion/shendingli.htm

This article was first published at Chinausfocus.com To see the original version please visit http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/work-for-benign-relations/

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