Sunnylands spirit needed to rekindle relations

Sunnylands, or the former Annenberg Estate in Rancho Mirage, California, was little known to the world until Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama met there for an informal summit early last June.

The two leaders, one who had just assumed the presidency in China and the other who had just started his second term, agreed to meet because they could not wait for a possible meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Russia in September 2013.

Although they had already met during Xi's trip to the US as China's vice-president in February 2012, it was very encouraging for China watchers to see the two leaders trying to understand each other better in a shirtsleeves summit. The symbolism of this was profound as rather than presenting it as the traditional rivalry between existing and emerging powers, it set the tone for a new type of major-country relationship that aims to expand cooperation and effectively manage differences.