Susan Rice lays ground in Beijing for Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington

The relations between the US and China are not at their best today: the White House accuses Beijing of “economy manipulation”, none of the US presidential candidates backed the Republican bank decision to lower the yuan rate, and the Chinese hackers were accused of massive attacks against the American networks.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said a President Trump would not be throwing a dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping but rather would get the leader fast-food so they could get down to business. Instead, the two sides tried to accentuate the positive, talking about shared interests and the potential for cooperation.

Whatever bipartisan consensus had predominated since former U.S. president Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China, though, has “almost unraveled” as companies have become disaffected with China, Frank Jannuzi, president of the Mansfield Foundation, which promotes U.S.-Asia relations, told the Financial Times.

While China’s more assertive foreign policy under Xi has raised concerns among U.S. military leaders, he and Obama have forged a strong working relationship as a result of frequent meetings.

The popular narrative on U.S.-China relations, however is quite different, and it will take more than official platitudes to shift opinions.

The US “badly” needs a successful visit by President Xi Jinping, said a state-run Chinese daily which added that in Barack Obama’s remaining months in office, “he can not stand his eight years as president ending in soured US-China ties”. The US will work with the China to make Xi’s upcoming trip a “milestone in deepening our cooperation and strengthening our relationship”.

While the world’s two largest economies have important mutual interests, like trying to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program, deep disagreements exist over everything from Internet security to China’s claims in the South China Sea.

Close communication and coordination have been maintained regarding major global issues, such as climate change and disease prevention and control, as well as hot spot regional issues, Yang said.

“Let me be clear: defeating ISIS and rolling back Iran will require a greater investment of U.S. resources”.

China says the United States is not a claimant nation in the dispute and should stay out of it.

Against the backdrop of a weak global economic recovery and uncertain security situations in some regions, China and the United States, as two globally influential countries, should seek common ground while shelving differences to build a new type of major-country relationship.

Obama will host Xi at the White House in September for a state visit.