On November 20, when Bush was still in China, U.S. aerospace giant Boeing signed a mega deal worth $4 billion to supply 70 aircraft to eight Chinese airlines, one of the biggest purchases in China's civil aviation history.

In the past several years, China and the United States have cooperated in various fields such as anti-terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and transnational criminal. Bilateral economic cooperation has also grown rapidly. According to statistics from the Chinese side, in 2004, trade volume between the two countries reached $169.6 million and the figure is expected to exceed $200 billion this year. China is now the third largest trading partner of the United States and its fastest growing export market. The United States is China's second largest trading partner.

Experts say economy and trade will remain important among core links between Beijing and Washington in the long term. But it is also the one with many complications. On the one hand, the United States wants a significant share of the Chinese market and thus has made efforts to boost bilateral industrial integration. On the other, U.S. industry and commerce are dissatisfied with China's imperfect market economy system and are not fully prepared to China's impetus in its foreign trade. This is the reason behind the frequent conflicts in bilateral trade, the exchange rate with RMB and the IPR.

"It is normal for China and the United States to have frequent economic frictions and it will be a long-term phenomenon for the two countries to witness both cooperation and economic bickering," said Xiao from the CASS.

Analysts say China is becoming a leading force in the Asia-Pacific region because of its economic opportunity and strong development impetus. During the APEC summit, South Korea recognized China's market economy status. Fu said that despite differences, the Sino-U.S. relationship is vital to both countries because of their shared interests. "The United States should seek opportunity from China's development and should not follow a policy of containment, otherwise, bilateral relations will go backwards," he added.

Regional Importance

Unlike his predecessor Bill Clinton, Bush does not stress much on the personality of a president. He prudently and circumspectly arranged his Asian tour and selected Japan as his first stop, delivering his keynote speech there, in which he stressed the importance of freedom and praised the fact that a free Japan had changed the lives of others in the region.

"Such an arrangement is symbolic and Bush wants to express to the outside world that U.S.-Japanese relations are still in the first place among its relations with East Asian countries. In spite of this, Sino-U.S. relations are on the rise," said Shen Dingli, Deputy Director of the American Studies Center of Fudan University.

Before Bush came to Asia, he said he would urge leaders from China, Japan and South Korea to hold talks during his East Asian trip to ease the tensions between Japan and the other two because of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visits and other related reasons.

"Bush's visit to the State of Mongolia too is of great significance because he is the first U.S. president to visit the country," said Professor Zhu Feng of the School of International Studies, Peking University. He pointed out that this is an indication of a new emphasis in Bush's foreign policy. Through this visit, he may be signaling that he is interested not only in the Middle East, but also attaches great importance to strengthening U.S. influence worldwide, Zhu said.

"Undoubtedly, of the four Asian nations, China is the most important one to him," said Fu. He said that China has surpassed Japan in terms of its global role and world influence and is therefore more attractive to the United States in Asia.

According to Fu, Japan closely follows the United States in international affairs, for example in the Iraq war, seldom playing an independent role. But China is more likely and has the capacity to independently take its responsibility in international affairs, such as the six-party talks aimed at denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula that have been held in Beijing on five occasions.

"As an economic giant with a vast market, China's economic influence is also rising rapidly," said Fu, adding that RMB's revaluation by 2 percent in July this year had a great impact on the world economy.