CHICAGO - Considering its future relationship with China, the United States should concentrate more on economic rather than military issues, several US academics said Wednesday.

For Washington, it would be more beneficial to study Beijing's powerful economic infrastructure than its military capabilities, said James Traub, a contributor to Foreign Affairs and New York Times magazines, at an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington.

Participants agreed that cooperation should be the "first priority" between the two nations.

President of the Project 2049 Institute Randy Schriver said the Asia Pacific region, including China, was of growing importance to American foreign policy.

The efforts to dedicate greater American resources to the area had so far been met with bipartisan support in the American government, he said.

As China became the world's second-largest economy, the US academia is increasingly interested in studying relations between the two nations.