By Liu Shinan

Beijing's guesthouses have been very busy welcoming distinguished guests from the United States.

US Treasury Secretary John Snow, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior officials have traveled to Beijing for meetings with their Chinese counterparts.

It has been rare for so many senior American officials to visit China at the same time.

One of the US financial officials' missions is to pressure China to accelerate the reform of the yuan's exchange rate regime to calm the wrath of what some US lawmakers see as China's manipulation of its currency for exports benefits.

Rumsfeld is here seeking a "straightforward exchange" on "strategic concerns," which reflects American politicians' suspicions about the so-called "Chinese military build-up."

Just a few days earlier, a team of US negotiators went home empty-handed after failing to strike a deal with their Chinese counterparts on the dispute over China's textile exports to the United States.

The frequent bilateral meetings signify a new phase of the Sino-US relationship - one that involves growing friction but which neither side expects to escalate into a serious conflict. Both sides realize that dialogue is the best course of action.

In any dialogue, mutual understanding is a prerequisite for success. Huge differences exist between China and the United States in terms of society, economy and culture. These fundamental divergences inevitably affect both sides in the way they handle bilateral relations. To achieve consensus, each side needs a deep understanding of why the other insists on its ways about social, ideological and cultural traditions.

For instance, the United States is a country with fully-developed capitalism in economic systems. That underlies many of the thoughts which appear alien to our Chinese mentality. We should adapt ourselves to the rules of the market economy game and adopt the strategies that prove effective in helping advance our economic and social management.

On the other hand, the United States should learn something about China's history to understand its national conditions and Chinese people's mindset.

Take the reform of the yuan's exchange rate regime. China has repeatedly said the reform programme will be a process of gradual changes. In the past few days, Premier Wen Jiabao, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and a few other senior officials have all explicitly stated that.

But the Americans seem not to understand why the Chinese do not want to hurry along the process a little more. They may not have paid much attention to a sentence in the statement made by Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan last Tuesday: "China has its own tempo and speed of development."

That is a typical example of China's ideas about development.

If the Americans had been careful enough they would have noticed that nearly all reforms over the past 25 years since China began its modernization drive have proceeded in an "orderly and gradual way."

That is because Chinese base their agendas on the consideration of "stability." Neither the government nor the people would want to suffer any social instability caused by drastic reform moves.

That is also due to traditional Chinese culture, which emphasizes peace rather than violence, stability rather than turbulence, and long-term interests rather than instant benefits.

Of course, I do not mean that we Chinese like to be slow about anything. In fact, we have learned a lot about the importance of efficiency in our business partnerships with friends from Western nations. But when long-term interests are involved, we are patient - and persistent.

In this regard, Greenspan, who is visiting China for the first time in his 18 years as Fed chairman, must find it easy to understand, for he himself is a maestro of gradual progress. When he led the Federal Reserve to lower the interest rate 12 successive times during 2000-03 and raise it 11 times since June 2004, he was patient enough for the gradual process to take effect.

Personally I was fascinated by his broad smile captured in the photographs taken during the 17th meeting of the Sino-US Joint Economic Commission on Sunday and Monday. Local media described his smile as "innocent and lovely." Perhaps after decades of experience amid intense market competition, Greenspan has developed a calm approach with which to confront challenges, so he smiles sincerely.

I like that kind of smile.

I think China and the United States need to smile at each other in that way.

(China Daily October 19, 2005)