Yet factors such as continuous US arms sales to Taiwan and the repetitious playing up of China's "military expansion" have increased the friction in bilateral ties from time to time.

During a seminar held on Wednesday in Beijing, Carter, whose NGO, the Carter Center, has been contributing to Chinese social development for many years, said he will keep boosting communication between China and the US.

In the long term, big enterprises such as General Motors Co and Coca-Cola Co, will play a more significant role in the Sino-US relationship, said Carter. He added that student exchanges and increasing tourism will also help stabilize ties.

US Ambassador to China Gary Locke, who also attended the seminar, said: "We must build strategic trust, and that can only be achieved by working together in ways that will achieve real results and real benefits to the values of our people and to the international community."

"Many global issues cannot and will not be resolved without cooperation and the joint partnership of the United States and China. Working in those ways, we can certainly move away from mistrust and build trust," Locke said.

According to Yu Pinhai, chairman of the Center of Sino-US Relations at Tsinghua University, US scholars should change their habitual framework of condemning China when analyzing China-related problems.

"Let's find a way to change how the two countries perceive each other. The way US citizens view China should evolve in light of the new circumstances," Yu said.

Contact the writers at [email protected] and [email protected]

Pu Zhendong contributed to this story.