中国军委副主席徐才厚访美

chairman, General Xu arrives at the Pentagon for talks with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The visit comes as China's military offers assurances that its arms build-up is no threat to the US. Zachary Karabell is the author of Superfusion "How China and America became one economy and why the world's prosperity depends on it". Karabell says it's not the military that will define the relationship between these major powers.

There is also the fact of China as an economic competitor, so unlike the Soviet Union which is what the focus of the United States was for so much of the 20th century, it’s not a military or even increasingly ideological competitor.

China is now the largest holder of US government debt. Beijing has voiced concerns about its massive dollar holdings, especially as debt issued to fund the US stimulus could erode their value down the road. These economic ties can change the dynamics in other areas.

This doesn't mean the United States can bring persuasion and all threats to there quietly, but it does mean that the ability of the United States to force China to do things that the Chinese government or Chinese society doesn't want to do, is much much more limited.

There are also the benefits.

A lot of flash point issues between China and the United States, whether it’s about human rights and how even one defines human rights. But there is also this huge area of concord or convergence in how each society conceives of or is dedicated to the market.

China and the US meet regularly through what is known as "the strategic and economic dialogue". Both are key players in the six-party talks aimed at a nuclear free Korean peninsula and the US is increasingly seeking China's cooperation over Iran. President Barack Obama will make his first state visit to China in mid-November. **,Reuters.