2014 ends on positive note for US, China(4)

The year ahead

Shen Dingli of Fudan University believes that he still cannot be very optimistic of the relationship in the year ahead because of the lingering issues of cyber security, disputes over maritime security and the pending US arms sales to Taiwan.

China immediately protested three weeks ago after Obama signed into law authorization for the sale of four Perry-class guided missile frigates to Taiwan.

"All these need to be sorted out, but none of them could be sorted out," Shen said.

"If I say that China shall tolerate the US arms sale to Taiwan, or the US shall stop such sale, or China shall submit its (five PLA) officers to the US, or the US openly withdraws its decision of indictment, or China shall relinquish its maritime claim, or the US shall relinquish its protection over Japan regarding Diaoyu Islands, it is clear that none of these would be expected to work out," he said.

Li of Brookings said he is cautiously optimistic for the year ahead.

While noting that many of the thorny issues will remain, Li said it's worth applauding that despite so many problems in 2014, the two nations' top leaders have still managed to bring relations back on the right track, referring to the Xi-Obama meeting in November.

"Is this coincidental? No. Because they know that going the other direction is toward a dead end," Li said.