The United States needs to learn that big countries should respect each other. The winner of the November presidential election needs new angles and new thinking at the strategic level in developing Sino-US relations.

Apart from the routine China-bashing, we heard some positive words from both candidates in the final election debate, with them saying both countries can cooperate, and that the US has no wish to become China's enemy.

That China-rated topics took up so much of the debate suggests that the way to handle China represents a big challenge for the US president. Sino-US relations are one of the most important and complicated bilateral ties in the world today.

However, the candidates had three main proposals regarding China: enforcing punitive tariffs on tires imported from China to protect jobs in the US, labeling China a manipulator of the exchange rate, and criticizing it for stealing intellectual property rights from the US.

US politicians are blind to the fact that the many tires China exports to the US are made by US companies in China, and blocking the tires from the United States market actually damages US consumers' interests at home.

The candidates also did not mention that even some US experts think the current exchange rate of the yuan is already close to a rational market level, or the significant progress China has made in improving its intellectual property rights protection.

Only providing one side of the story will mislead voters and conveniently allow the candidates to show their toughness in defending the national interests of the US.

However, on the other hand, the candidates showed a willingness to cooperate with China. It means both the Republican Party and Democratic Party know clearly that becoming an enemy of China is not in line with the national interests of their country.

China and the US have continuously deepened their relations and cooperation for more than 40 years. The increasingly closer interdependence between the two nations proves their common interests far outweigh their differences. Cooperation should be the watchword for Sino-US ties.

(Source: China Daily)