The speed with which Sino-US ties have been put on track and elevated to a higher level under the new administration is unprecedented and largely due to deepening global financial turmoil and fast-changing geopolitics, analysts say.
When a new president arrives in the White House, relations normally get off to a troubled start before gradually normalising - a phenomenon foreign affairs experts have called 'the learning-curve period'.
George W. Bush, for instance, labelled China as America's 'strategic competitor' when he came to power eight years ago. Relations gradually improved further into his presidency.
Beijing initially had misgivings about President Barack Obama. Some believed his administration might press China on human rights issues and be hostile to a communist-ruled country.
Concerns were also raised when newly-nominated US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner said last month that 'President Obama believes that China is manipulating its currency'.
Some saw this as a hint of a hardline approach in Washington's foreign policy towards Beijing.