US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to China has come at a critical time. With flaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Beijing and Washington both have a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the region.

The rest of the world is watching with great interest whether and how the two countries will build on the good momentum they have fostered in their ties and step up coordination in regional and global issues.

Intensive high-level contacts enable leaders on both sides to compare notes on issues of mutual concern, expand mutual understanding and avoid misjudgment. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang both met Kerry shortly after his arrival in Beijing on Saturday.

Xi and Li told Kerry that China is willing to work with the United States to find a path for the relationship to progress based on mutual respect, increased mutual trust, expanded cooperation and appropriate handling of differences.

This will help steer bilateral interaction onto a more stable terrain, bring real benefits to the two countries and contribute to world peace and development, as the significance of Sino-US ties now goes well beyond the bilateral scope.

The development of China-US relations over the last 40 years shows our common interests are far greater than differences. It is imperative that the traditional zero-sum theory, which tends to view confrontation between an emerging power and an existing power as inevitable, should be discarded. Both should give due consideration to each other's core interests and major concerns, properly tackle differences and protect their overall relations from major disruptions.

On the regional and global fronts, Beijing and Washington need to cooperate in a more constructive way. They should interact positively in the Asia-Pacific region, and they should work together to prevent the tensions on the peninsula from spiraling out of control.

China has repeatedly warned that any troublemaking on the peninsula harms the interests of all the parties involved. Both sides should be aware of their responsibilities and the very high likelihood of a worst-case scenario materializing if they act in an irresponsible manner.

Unless they want to make true the war rhetoric and are ready to pay the price right now, the contesting parties must ratchet down tensions.

(China Daily 04/15/2013 page8)