More cooperation, less containment needed in Sino-US ties: Zhao

BEIJING: There were broad signals Tuesday that China and the United States would like to get their relationship back on an even keel even as Beijing made it clear that its interests cannot be compromised.

Both sides used an automotive analogy to describe their relationship - and the message was the hope for a smoother ride.

Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), compared the Sino-US relationship to a car.

"It has two drivers. Americans should know this. China also has control over the steering wheel, the accelerator, and the brake. The two drivers must consult with each other to drive the car. Otherwise it will only spin around," Zhao said on the eve of the opening of the annual session of the CPPCC, the national political advisory body. The annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, opens Friday.

"There should be more cooperation, and less 'containment' in Sino-US relations," he said.

Zhao said that "strategic reassurance" - a catchphrase coined by US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg to describe the relationship - is mutual.

Steinberg, the No 2 in the State Department, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday in what analysts described as a trip to "salvage" ties. He is accompanied by Jeffrey Bader, a senior director for Asian affairs on the US National Security Council.

Steinberg used the phrase "strategic reassurance" late last year to describe Sino-US relations, suggesting that Washington should welcome China's rise as a global power, even as Beijing repeatedly said that its rise would not run counter to the interests of others, including the US.

US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Monday that the visit offers an opportunity to "refocus on the future" of relations.

"We've gone through a bit of a bumpy path here and I think there's an interest, both within the United States and China, to get back to business as usual as quickly as possible," Crowley told a Washington press briefing.

Steinberg is expected to touch on a full range of issues including arms sales to Taiwan and climate change.

Crowley said Steinberg will also discuss the resumption of Six-Party Talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and try to persuade Beijing to support new sanctions against Teheran's nuclear program.

Bilateral relations have been strained after the US announced in January a $6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan, and President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama last month.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang Tuesday reiterated Beijing's position that Washington is to blame for the problems in bilateral ties.

"The responsibility for the current difficulty in China-US relations lies completely with the US," Qin told reporters. "We hope the US takes Chinese concerns seriously and respects China's core interests."

Observers believe that the broad, deep and complex relationship will steadily assume normalcy this year given a convergence of common interests.

Niu Xinchun, an expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Beijing and Washington need to coordinate on a range of issues, such as the international nuclear summit next month and the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in May.

Describing Steinberg and Bader as "China hands" who are influential in China-related policy, Niu said he welcomes their visit but urged the US to refrain from further hurting Beijing's interests.

Tao Wenzhao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said "we could let bygones be bygones".

"But we hope the US is more cautious. Washington should not hurt China's core interests any more, and should avoid triggering more trade friction."

Google claims 'unfounded'

At the CPPCC press conference, Zhao also said that Google, the US-based search engine giant, has no grounds to blame the Chinese government for alleged hacker attacks on its servers, or for threatening to pull out of China over censorship issues.

"Google was very careful in 2005 when it first came to China to study the Internet market and the investment environment here," said Zhao, who was then the minister of the State Council Information Office.

"Google studied Chinese law sentence by sentence. They also made a serious commitment to (obey) these laws when entering China in 2006," he added.

Zhao even referred to Darwinism to say species need to adapt to their living environment, and not the other way around.

Climate change blame rejected

Zhao also said it's wrong to blame China for limited progress made at December's Copenhagen conference on climate change.

China said it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 2020 by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels.

"It's voluntary without any supplementary conditions In comparison, some other countries didn't set any targets," he said, adding that it was unfair for some foreign media to point the finger at China after the conference.

Qin Jize in Beijing and Tan Yingzi in Washington contributed to the story