Editor's Note:

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is cur-rently on a much-covered visit to the US. What does the visit mean? How could future Sino-US relations unfold? Global Times (GT) reporter Yu Jincui talked to Nicholas Platt (Platt), a former high-level US diplomat in China and a former presi-dent of the Asia Society, on these issues.

GT: On Monday, when Xi visited the White House, was Valentine's Day. But many comment that the honeymoon between the two countries has long been over. They are now faced with political, economic and diplomatic friction, especially since the US imple-mented its "return to Asia." How do you view this?

Platt: We can describe the US-China relationship as a mature marriage in which both sides have been together for 40 years.

We obviously have our differences, as couples who have been together for that long do. We have issues that we have to deal with.

But it is clear to both sides that they have to do whatever they can to make the marriage last. There is no alterna-tive to that. The honeymoon, if there ever was one, is over.

There is a relationship of mutual dependence and interests which will last. The people who manage this rela-tionship should make sure the points of friction are reduced and the elements of cooperation are enhanced. Usually what happens on Valentine's Day is that people who have been married for a long time say "I love you."

GT: What's the significance of this visit?

Platt: The views, styles and attitudes of leaders affect the policy of leaders. There's no question about that. It's very important that the US and Xi get off to a good start.

One thing I will tell you was that this is not Xi's second visit to the US, as often reported, but his third. The first one occurred in 1980 when China's then-Defense Minister Geng Biao came to the US. At that time Xi was Geng's private assistant. 

He was very junior and nobody no-ticed that he came. He was only a young officer.

When I was stationed in the Pentagon in 1980, I was working in US-China military relations and I was in charge of Geng's visit. I didn't notice but other people who know Xi have told me that he went on this trip, and he liked the trip and the US. This doesn't come out in the news.

I think Xi had a good experience on that trip. That happened the year after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, so we were trying to make a big show of military cooperation between China and the US, but still the atmosphere was very friendly.

And then Xi went to Muscatine. Now US Vice President Joe Biden is taking Xi around the US. What's important really is that Xi and the US people get to know each other. People talk a lot about human relations. In politics, it's very important that you like somebody. If a candidate is liked, he will get elected. Americans want to get a feel for what Xi is like.

GT: What do you think are the US expectations of Xi's visit?

Platt: I think anybody who has followed this relationship for years is very careful about any kind of expectations. The important thing is that our relations now have been managed intelligently. It isn't like former Chinese leader Mao Zedong's meeting with then US Presi-dent Richard Nixon in 1972.

GT: As you've mentioned, the style of leaders influences policies. How do you see Xi's style?

Platt: We don't know what his leader-ship style will be, because he hasn't had a chance to show it. And I think he has been reluctant to show it. He's not revealed his intentions in any particular direction, because to do so is to engen-der one thought or another.

But I think he can give us some in-dication what he is like as a person and his personality.

GT: Will Xi's visit set the tone for future Sino-US relations?

Platt: It could. The US and China have to realize one important thing, that the two have no other alternative but to work together.

We are now so intertwined eco-nomically. Socially we may have big differences but we are so intertwined that neither of us can take any kind of action against the other without hurting ourselves more.

That's a good, safe place to be. In the boxing ring, the safest place is in a clinch. When the boxers are holding each other, they are very very close, that's the safest place, because neither can hit the other. The US and China are in a clinch. We should stay that way.

GT: How will upcoming leadership changes in China and elections in the US affect the two countries' relations this year?

Platt: If we look back at the US history, we will see that eight different US presidents from different parties at dif-ferent times in history have chosen to maintain and continue the relationship between the US and China and to make it grow. We also saw very significant changes in Chinese leadership, from Mao to Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao, who came to the same conclusions.

In the future, there will be both com-petition and cooperation between the two nations. But what is encouraging is that more and more Chinese students are studying in the US and more US students in China. The chances of the younger generation getting to know each other better than our generation did is good.