"We will act to ensure that China's development will bring more benefits to neighboring countries and contribute even more to the common development and cooperation of Asia. We will work with our neighbors to ensure a stable, prosperous and harmonious regional environment," said Zhang. He also emphasized, "While China is firm in its resolve to follow the path of peaceful development, it is equally firm in its resolve to uphold its territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests."

"China hopes to benefit neighboring countries with its healthy development; but it shouldn't sacrifice its legitimate rights," said Liu Jianfei, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He noted that China is asserting its legitimate rights on territorial disputes instead of violating other countries' interests. He suggested that Asian countries should share responsibilities in the region, so as to promote harmony and mutually beneficial cooperation.

"Protecting our lawful rights and interests is not contradictory to promoting common development with our neighbors," Liu explained. "Cooperation always means win-win results instead of the self-sacrifice of one side," said Liu.

Zhang also pointed out that China and the United States need to have candid and in-depth communication, avoid strategic misjudgment, expand new bright spots in their pragmatic cooperation and work to ensure that dialogue and cooperation outweigh friction and difference in the Asia-Pacific region. As they cooperate with each other, the two countries will find more common interests, Chinese observers said.

Advancing China-U.S. ties

2012 marked the 40th anniversary of the release of the China-U.S. Shanghai Communiqué and the resumption of contact between the two countries. Over the past four decades, great progress has been made in bilateral relations. In particular, the two presidents have reached an important agreement to build a new type of major-country relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation, heralding a historic new starting point for China-U.S. relations.

Bilateral trade surged from nearly zero in 1972 to $446.6 billion in 2011 and is likely to exceed $500 billion in 2012. China and the United States are each other's second largest trading partner. Over the past decade, exports from 47 U.S. states to China have grown at triple-digit rates. The two countries have maintained close communication and coordination on addressing terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change and regional hotspot issues.

As Washington transfers its strategic focus to the Asia-Pacific, regional tensions are heating up. "The Asia-Pacific is a region where China and the United States have more closely intertwined interests and more frequent interactions than elsewhere. China respects the legitimate interests of the United States in the region and welcomes its constructive role here," said Zhang.

Zhang underlined the need for the two sides to truly respect each other's core interests. "On issues bearing on sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, the United States needs to respect and accommodate China's core interests and major concerns, follow the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués, and approach Taiwan and Tibet-related questions both cautiously and properly so as to remove stumbling blocks hindering the sound and steady development of China-U.S. relations," he said.

The two sides should seek more common interests in political, economic and security areas, said Wu Jianmin, former Chinese Ambassador to France and Vice President of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy. For example, both China and the United States hope to secure the safety of sea lines, and they have cooperated in the Gulf of Aden waters. Besides, boosting investment in each other will help take bilateral cooperation to a new height.

The two sides need to enhance mutual trust and reduce mutual suspicion, said Wu Xinbo, Deputy Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. He said there should be an open and smooth communication channel between the top leaders of the two countries. And they should try to avoid unnecessary suspicion of one another when making policies.

"Both sides should admit that they have competition in the Asia-Pacific region. But they also should remember they have more fields of cooperation throughout the world," Wu Xinbo said.

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