13.jpg (Photo : www.globaltimes.cn)
Former Chinese ambassador to the United States Zhou Wenzhong says U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have the opportunity to meet each other in three separate occasions over the next twelve months.
Both nations are scheduled to send representatives to the next nuclear security summit in Europe in March, the G-20 summit in Australia in November and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting in Beijing in the Fall. Although there has been no official word if either leader will attend any or all of the meetings, if both actually do attend, said Zhou, the chances that they could meet together in a side conference are significant.
The most recent meeting of the two leaders was last September at the G-20 Summit in Russia. They were set to meet in October 2013 at the APEC Conference in Bali but Obama pulled out after the U.S. Congress failed to pass a new budget.
Over the last 40 years, Zhou emphasized, meetings between U.S. and Chinese leaders have "been a forceful driver in promoting bilateral relation." There are over 50 "dialogue and cooperation mechanisms" available to bring the U.S. and China closer together. None more important, Zhou said, than the yearly Strategic and Economic Dialog (S&ED) meetings. The next S&ED meeting is scheduled for next summer.
A potentially even bigger mechanism is the pending bilateral investment treaty (BIT). Both nations are currently in negotiations on the BIT and a final draft is expected soon. If successfully negotiated, experts believe that the BIT will be one of the most important trade agreements in recent years as it will likely lead to increased interaction between the Chinese and U.S. economies.
Zhou, who served as Chinese ambassador from 2005 to 2010, is now the secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA). BFA is a non-governmental organization modeled after the World Economic Forum. It seeks to promote regional cooperation between Asian nations. It is headquartered in Hainan.
