Illustration: Liu Rui /GT

While the two-day global summit on nuclear security in Washington this week has captured worldwide attention, the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Barack Obama on the sidelines of the summit has also been placed under the spotlight. Since the Xi-Obama meeting comes against the backdrop of greater than usual frictions in Beijing-Washington ties, the question of whether the two can calm troubled waters has emerged.

The Nuclear Security Summit can be seen as a window to demonstrate the significance and possible achievements of the Sino-US collaboration. Yet in the meantime, we should also be more realistic over the relationship between the two powers.

Looking back on the fruitful results produced by joint works between Beijing and Washington, we can surely claim that we did have achieved something big. However, there can hardly be huge breakthroughs anymore in the near future.

For instance, there won't be new historic agreement such as the Iran nuclear deal any time soon. On climate change, more progress is possible, yet it will be hard to produce anything more sensational than the US-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change, which was inked in November 2014 during Obama's visit to China. When it comes to the North Korean nuclear crisis, harsh sanctions of unprecedented scale have already been imposed on Pyongyang, and there are as yet no larger-scale ones in sight.

More importantly, despite the bilateral cooperation over the North Korean nuclear issue a while ago, a potential crisis that might severely jeopardize Sino-US ties is worth noting. The White House's decision over deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on South Korea is undoubtedly a move that crosses the line. Washington has so far not clearly articulated whether it will deploy the system or postpone doing so, so the issue remains a puzzle. 

Economically, there is little hope for a China-US Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to be signed during Obama's presidency. Moreover, a trickier problem is emerging in the South China Sea, where tensions have been running high with the two accusing one another of fueling the stress.

Facing all the divergences, the concept of major power diplomacy has often been raised in recent years. Nevertheless, we need to realize the fact that the US has never accepted this concept. Acceptance of the idea will mean Washington's acknowledgment over the fact that China and the US are on an equal footing in terms of power and influence.

The hard truth is however, the US, as a superpower, will only find ways to keep its hegemony, instead of welcoming another rising power. It has showed no willingness to respect Beijing's core interests. Furthermore, it believes that even though China demands no conflict, certain behaviors by Beijing do not match its words. Therefore, it is not ready, and will not be ready in the near future to embrace China's emergence.

That said, what the Sino-US relationship needs is not slogans, but more specific moves. For example, the two sides have reached the very first cyber agreement in September last year, even though it was a general one. We hope that leaders from both sides can produce substantial and detailed initiatives. Meanwhile, more serious discussions over possible economic conflicts that can be brought by the complicated global economic situation are also more than necessary.

But above all, both Beijing and Washington ought to slow down their pace in their interactions. Take the South China Sea. Given the reality that China will not stop its constructions and military deployment on the islands, while the US shows no sign of pausing in sending fighter jets or warships to the waters, the best option for now is to reduce the frequency of such acts from both sides, and keep bilateral ties stable at the everyday level.

Facing the downward spiral in bilateral ties, a practical mind-set is needed more than anything else for the moment. For those major issues that cannot be solved overnight, can the two slow down a bit to begin with?

The article is compiled by Global Times reporter Li Aixin based on an interview with Shi Yinhong, director of the Center for American Studies at the Renmin University of China. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion