China's US envoy urges 'cool heads' at summit
Ambassador to US seeks to play down high hopes by saying leaders' one meeting does not ensure that relations will be all plain sailing
China's top envoy to Washington yesterday urged both sides to "keep a cool head" amid high expectations for this week's Sino-US strategic and economic dialogue.
The high-level talks - scheduled to start tomorrow in Washington - come just a month after presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama promised to build a "new model" for the relationship between the two powers during their first summit in California.
Ahead of the talks, Chinese and US officials met in Washington yesterday for the first session of a "cyber working group", which a State Department official said would let the two sides "raise concerns, develop processes for future cooperation and set the tone" on cyberissues, Agence France-Presse reported.
In a commentary on the People's Daily website, ambassador Cui Tiankai said the Sunnyvale talks had begun a new stage in the Sino-US relationship, but cautioned that the various disputes would not be resolved so quickly.
"We have to keep a cool head for Sino-US relations," he wrote. "The development path for this bilateral relationship will not be smooth after just one meeting of the two presidents."
He called on both nations to "take the high ground" while pursuing their visions, saying both sides needed to properly manage disputes.
The relationship will not be smooth after just one meeting of the presidents