NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States should have high-level talks, intellectual exchanges and economic cooperation with China, Ezra Vogel, professor emeritus at Harvard University and a renowned China scholar, said Wednesday.

"First of all, we need high level dialogues at a frank level, and we need to use diplomats," Vogel said during an online dialogue organized by the New England Chinese American Alliance.

Asked what his top three pieces of advice about China for the next administration of the United States are, Vogel said frank high-level dialogue between the two countries is "very, very crucial and very urgent."

China-U.S. ties "have gotten a lot worse during a Trump era because of bad management on our side," Vogel said.

He also said the United States and China need to work together on economic cooperation, while the two countries should not decouple in areas such as student exchanges and economy.

The two countries could start to cooperate in these areas, with further chances for cooperation on tackling the coronavirus and its effects, he added.

"Competitors can talk as competitors, but it doesn't have to be enemies. It can be competitors; it can be suspicious. But, it can be under some kind of control," Vogel said.

The professor also suggested the two countries have more intellectual exchanges and open ways in this regard. "American intellectuals now particularly since the outbreak of coronavirus don't have opportunities to deal with Chinese intellectuals," he said.

However, a small number of U.S. intellectuals still communicate with Chinese counterparts regularly, according to Vogel.