U.S. President Donald Trump's upcoming visit to China will inject new vitality into China-U.S. relationship, an Indian scholar has said.
"Both sides are likely to engage in pragmatic cooperation beneficial to both," B. R. Deepak, a professor at the Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies Center of the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Xinhua.
Calling the China-U.S. relationship the most important relationship of this century, he said neither can afford to play a zero-sum game.
"The relationship has to be that of mutual benefits as the stakes are too high on both sides," he added.
The two largest economies in the world, Deepak felt, have reached consensus on how to move their relationship further. He called the consensus a new type of major-country relationship built on mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and avoidance of conflicts.
The new type of major-country relationship has found greater currency in the U.S. political and strategic circle of late, which will avoid not only conflict but also the so-called Thucydides Trap between the two, he said.
Thucydides Trap, referring to a 5th Century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens, means a state of crisis when an established power fears a rising power and the tension escalates toward war.
Deepak pointed out that the consensus reached between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has been strengthened over time through frequent communication over the phone.
"I believe both accept that there are challenges. However, they also acknowledge that there are immense opportunities for partnership too," he said.
"While building consensus on how not to let the sensitive issues spiral out of control, they will also agree to maintain close communication and coordination on major regional and international issues, and push the bilateral relationship in the right direction," he noted.
Deepak said other countries in the region would also like to see a stable U.S.-China relationship.
"Any conflict between the two would be detrimental to the stability in the region," he added.
Trump is scheduled to pay a state visit to China from Wednesday to Friday.
The upcoming visit will see him meeting Xi for the third time this year, with two previous meetings in the U.S. state of Florida in April and in the German city of Hamburg in July.
Since the U.S. president took office in January, the two leaders have maintained close contact on issues of common concern.
