Remember, one of the missions of Xi's trip is to stabilize the increasingly complicated relations between China and the U.S. The China-U.S. commercial relationship has long been the bedrock of overall bilateral ties. The BIT, which is beneficial to both nations, could serve as a stabilizer to address sensitive and complicated issues emerging in the development of our bilateral relations.
I think that's part of the reason why Xi chose to kick off his U.S. visit in Seattle, which included his official interaction with the U.S. business community, whose interests are closely interlinked with the BIT talks.
In my opinion, one attainable result is that Xi and Obama make the announcement during the summit that China and the U.S. will finish the BIT talks within Obama's presidency. If that's the case, it would be a major tangible outcome.
Apart from the BIT negotiations, I have seen some positive signs on the cyber security cooperation front for the past few weeks. I think it will be a bright spot coming out of the summit. Other deliverables may include progress on military cooperation and a follow-up on climate change.
As for the maritime disputes in the South China Sea, I doubt there is much to talk about on that issue. Beijing can't make any concessions, and Washington doesn't expect Beijing to compromise. Although it is a major issue in the overall China-U.S. relations, I don't expect it to figure prominently in the upcoming summit.
Areas that I think will be discussed heavily, but have received little coverage in both the Chinese and the American press, are such topics as NGOs and China's economic reforms.
China's proposed new legislation on overseas NGOs has recently raised considerable concern in the U.S. It will be a hot topic during the summit. China's market-oriented reform is also a major concern for Washington. Whether and how the reform persists will influence Washington's strategic attitude toward China on other fronts, such as the South China Sea and cyber security issue. So I expect Xi to reassure Obama of China's resolution to press ahead with reforms.
The above will likely be closer to the real scenario, rather than the popular usual coverage in the U.S. and Chinese media.
Li Shengjiao is an expert on the U.S.-China issues and former Counselor of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Courtesy of The Diplomat
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