It is said that the China-U.S. relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world not only from the two countries’ perspectives, but also because the relationship affects global peace, stability, and development. In anticipation of the summit meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Obama, besides what the two leaders want to talk, we also need to ask what the world expects them to talk and do about?
Putting the bilateral relationship aside for a moment, the world’s expectations are not only about current hot-spot issues, but also about some broader and overall coordinations which bear on future regional and global development. 
First, setting the agenda. As a community, all nations in the world are confronted with a wide range of challenges: food security, climate change, arms proliferation, territorial disputes, extremism, cross-border crimes, and so on. It is a test for the international community to find common grounds among such a wide range of pressing issues and enlist international common efforts to address them. If countries with global influence such as China and the U.S. cannot reach a consensus on these global agendas and let their respective attention be diverted to internal affairs, then the global risks facing the human society will increase, undermining the interests of all nations. This is an unwanted scenario and therefore, what concerns the international community is how to mobilize China and the U.S. to reach consensus and coordination on the global agenda.
Second, maintaining stability. The two leaders are certainly to talk about the current hot-spot issues which are the real concerns of the international community and impossible to be circumvented by both countries. However, instead of urging the two countries to solve these issues within a period of time, the international community is expecting to see the two leaders come out of the summit with solutions and resolution. In other words, the international community hopes for China and the U.S. to be the stabilizing forces in safeguarding international security. This is a reasonable anticipation and should be the direction of the China-U.S. concerted efforts.
Third, expanding opportunity. China and the U.S. are important to the rest of the world not because their vast territory, but because of the vast opportunities that they offer to the whole world . What follows the 2008 financial crisis has made it clear that the worries about the U.S. decline and the attention to China’s role as a global economic engine all stem from the concern whether the opportunities offered by the two countries are increasing or decreasing. The world is expecting much more opportunities from the two countries. And China and the U.S. can make enormous contributions if they do not let the world down.
Last but not least, promoting development. Despite all these expectations, the world must not forget that China and the U.S. are themselves the most two influential economies on the world stage. It goes without saying that the two countries’ efforts in keeping the strong momentum of development is a major contribution and the starting point of offering more opportunities to the rest of the world. The international community is looking at what the two countries will do to keep rapid, stable, and sustainable development.
The world’s attention is focusing on the summit at the former Annenberg Estate in California. For the benefits of China and the U.S., the relevant regions, and for the future of the whole world, it is helpful for us to think about the above issues in earnest.

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