The United States and China have been linked by history and current and future common interests, although they are totally different in historic traditions and social circumstances, two China experts from the United States said in Beijing January 11.

They also pointed out that enhancing mutual understanding and reducing conflict are the best ways to guarantee the development of US-China relations.

Barber Conable, chairman of the National Committee on United States-China Relations (NCUSCR), and David Lampton, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University, are in Beijing to attend the 10th Sino-US Dialogue meeting among Chinese and U.S. notables, and expressed their views on the Sino-US relations in an interview with Chinese press Tuesday.

Although the two experts emphasized the unofficial flavor of the meeting, they, together with the other 650 NCUSCR members, have a strong determination to "interpret China to the US, and interpret the US to China," and "clear out the distortion" to enable people to "learn how things really are and not what they imagine them to be."

Lampton said that looking back over the past decades, US-China relations have experienced fundamental changes, and now common interests between the two sides have increased.

He said that China's economy has developed rapidly, and the USnow shares tremendous commercial interests with China. Currently, about 50,000 Chinese scholars and students study in the United States, and educational exchanges between the two countries have been strongly enhanced.

"But the increase of contact will result in the increase of friction, because more interest is involved," Lampton said.

Considering history and reality, US-China relations have experienced difficulties, which should urge the two countries to promote mutual understanding.

Lampton said a great price will be paid if the US and China have only competition and conflict and deny cooperation, but that the vision of a US-China friendship without friction is unrealistic.

"In the future we will have areas of cooperation and areas of disagreement," he said, adding that the challenge is how to "manage the conflict" so as not to negatively influence cooperation.

Grass-roots exchanges should not be neglected in the promotion of mutual understanding, but there also is room for other channelsof exchanges.

Conable, former president of the World Bank, pledged to encourage more trips to China by US congressmen, who have a say in the US- China relations, but they usually care more about domestic issues and the next election.

Mutual military exchanges are also important, because the soldiers of the two countries play a substantial role in safeguarding national security, he said.

As for exchanges among political and legal circles, Conable said that frequent contacts among the mayors and lawyers of the two countries will improve investment and trade and economic cooperation, as well as legal building.

He also encourages academic exchanges, especially among young scholars, which can guarantee the smooth development of Sino-US relations.

The two American experts said that NCUSCR will continue to contribute to increasing friendly exchanges between the United States and China, however Lampton said that "we play a more important role if governmental relations are bad."

But he seems to favor the other role: arranging more exchange projects and enabling NCUSCR to become a place for greater communication. (Xinhua)