By Li Hongmei People's Daily Online

The two-day China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue concluded July 28 in Washington is again stirring up a favorite topic--G-2, a catch-all headline cliché even for the duration of the G-20 London Summit in April, but declined then by the Chinese side, as it conflicts with China's consistent stance on multi-polarization. Additionally, to China, what deserves its foremost attention and effort in the coming days is how to achieve a real win-win situation in its more positive and comprehensive cooperation with the U.S., who is, nevertheless, seeking the momentum to build a framework involving U.S. and China, or G-2, in a bid to shape the world economic outlook in the 21st century.

Even though the top brass on the U.S. side reassured the Chinese delegation at the meeting that the U.S. would not let huge budget deficits or runaway inflation jeopardize the value of Chinese investments, China is still edging its way along the bumpy road of economic revitalization and will raise its voice in future to defend its economic interests from being eroded.

After all, it is in all likelihood that the U.S., now desperately struggling out of the economic nightmare, would start up the note printing machine spewing out money in quantities, which could harm China's economic interests as its largest creditor. More over, the U.S. inclination to resort to protectionism would also spell disaster for China's export-driven economy once the financial storm hits.

Given this, China has stressed on several occasions that the further development of Sino-US relations should be based on a fair and rational distribution of the bilateral interests. In terms of the framework of G-2, both parties involved must be on an equal footing, not in the way the U.S. dictates, while China follows suit.

As a developing country, China sits at a primary phase of development, with uneven economic and political strengths, all this different from and unmatchable with the United States. On this basis, the win-win achievement, as much expected by China, is still far beyond attainment through a mere G-2 structure. That also explained why China intended to call for more attention to its economic role and especially its position as a market economy through the dialogue mechanism. In response, the U.S. had to seek and enlarge the common ground it could share with China, for instance, in the sphere of technological cooperation for exploiting and developing new energies.

On the eve of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner jointly published an article in Wall Street Journal, highlighting the importance of cooperation. 'Few global problems can be solved by the U.S. or China alone. And few can be solved without the U.S. and China together,' reads the article.

As reflected by the Dialogue, the round of discussions on America's deficits and China's role in financing them shed light on the growing economic importance of China, now the world's third largest economy. But one more thing still has to be paid heed to—an apparently 'asymmetrical' win-win situation would be inevitably created if China and the U.S. tap in potentials to seek linkage for cooperation between the two unmatchable growth modes.

After all, dialogue is not negotiation, with its focal point varied to mainly exchanging views rather than bargaining. One cannot expect windfalls of a dialogue, though it is a revamped one, much the way some scholars cannot pin their hopes on 'the swap of growth modes' between the two economies in an effort to reverse the unbalanced world economy, as it is almost an illusion, way beyond reality. The swap, or even the shift of growth mode, if occurring one day, must be based on some economic accumulation and, will take time and efforts to strive for that direction. For example, it cannot be achieved overnight to boost personal savings rates in the U.S. and release the maximum of China's population energy to promote its spending.

But having these strategic-level discussions between the world largest developing and developed economies will definitely help build the trust and relationships to tackle the most vexing global challenges of today, and beef up the confidence in future.

'When you are in a common boat, you need to cross the river peacefully together.' as Secretary Clinton cited a Chinese aphorism as saying when she was on her debut Chinese tour in February. A win-win economic situation in a real sense not only bodes well for a more constructive Sino-U.S. partnership, but also proves a blessing to the global economy.