Just as U.S. President Bill Clinton expressed to Chinese President Jiang Zemin in 1996, both countries need to rely on the common interests of combating climate change and strengthening mutual security. This can happen with improved and people-to-people interaction.

For most of its history, the relationship between China and the US has been defined by the relative asymmetry in power between the two countries. Such imbalance has given rise to complex and often contradictory views of one another between Chinese and Americans. Now however, it is possible to chart a new course forward based on mutual symmetry and respect.