True, it is widely perceived that Beijing and Washington have demonstrated both political will and skills in stepping up crisis management in recent years. However, under the backdrop that the US is implementing its rebalancing strategy to the Asia Pacific and that China's overseas interests are growing, whether the two countries can avoid strategic misjudgments is an issue that not only concerns themselves but also the entire world.

In December, a Chinese naval vessel and a US warship narrowly avoided a collision in the South China Sea. Though both governments have kept the incident low key, it drew a lot of attention from the media in the two countries and the rest of the world. This offers further proof of the need to carefully steer their relations so that such incidents do not become flashpoints.

Thanks to 35 years of efforts from both countries, the interdependency of our two countries has reached an unprecedented level. It is in the best interests of our two countries to continue to propel the bilateral trade volume, robust people-to-people ties and significant interaction in other fields.

Yet, as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi rightfully pointed out in an article commemorating the 35th anniversary of the establishment of China-US diplomatic relations, due to differences in their political systems, level of development, history and cultural traditions, it is only natural for the two countries to have disagreements and differences.

Mutual respect offers the right approach to managing our differences, Wang recommended. Indeed, any friction will appear to be less formidable as long as our two countries can trust each other and join hands to find a best solution to them. In this regard, the US should have a correct understanding of China's strategic intentions. China has no intention of challenging the US' interests either in the Asia Pacific or elsewhere. In return, the US should show due respect to China's major concerns either in the region or beyond.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily.

wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn