China and US should work on strategic partnership

For people who are dedicated to improving China-US relations, the meeting between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Osaka, Japan, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit on June 30 has come as an encouraging sign.

The two leaders agreed to resume trade talks and refrain from taking measures that would escalate the trade war. Trump allowed US companies to continue selling products to Huawei while promising better treatment for Chinese students, saying "we want more Chinese students".

The key message is Trump's remark that "we're going to be strategic partners", which is in sharp contrast to the tough language in the US National Security Strategy report released in December 2017 that described China as a "strategic competitor". Trump's words are said to have upset some China hawks in Washington. And it shows he may not always endorse their hawkish views on China.