"President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States later this month is a crucial visit at a crucial moment," said Da Wei, director of the Institute of American Studies at China's Institute of Contemporary International Relations, at a symposium on China-U.S. relations held in Beijing on Sept.9.

Bilateral ties are at a crucial stage as tensions have been escalating in the months since the visit was officially announced in February.

Regarding issues in the South China Sea, China has expressed concerns about US military surveillance over flights, while the U.S. has criticized China's construction on the region's islands. Also, recent U.S. media reports accusing China of being the biggest online hacking suspect have made cyber security a thorny problem in bilateral relations.

Other issues like the U.S. attitudes towards the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Beijing Military Parade have also aggravated the ties.

"The China-U.S. relationship is like an iceberg, the part above the water's surface is stable, but what's beneath the surface is changing," Da Wei said.

Xi's visit, according to Da Wei, offers both sides an opportunity to reshape the relationship. He outlined four functions of Xi's visit. The first is to enhance mutual understanding and dissolve misgivings regarding China's diplomacy, political and economic development. The second is to make progress on the specific issues like military exchange and climate change while the third is to help better present the image of the Chinese President to the U.S. audience. Finally, the fourth is to stabilize the relationship ahead of the next U.S. administration and the fulfillment of China's 13th "Five-Year Plan".

Jin Canrong, dean of the School of International Relations at China's Renmin University, agreed with Da's view, saying that Xi's visit will prevent bilateral ties from further deteriorating during Obama's remaining term in office and lay a good foundation for the next U.S. administration to build on. He also expects impressive shifts in Xi's communication with the U.S. public during his upcoming visit. These kinds of shifts happened during late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's visit to the U.S. in 1979.

According to Ruan Zongze, vice president of China's Institute of International Studies, "Xi's visit is very important and will send the message that China and the U.S. can be partners even though they have strategic differences. The U.S. worries that someday China will challenge its dominance. But the goal of China's development is revitalization and isn't to seek dominance."

Regarding America's consideration to impose sanctions against China on the basis of accusation that the country stole the personal information of millions of Americans by hacking the database of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Ruan said that "China is also a victim of cyber attacks. China and the U.S. should work together to establish rules and standards on this issue. The best solution is communication instead of sanctions. Therefore, both sides should reach a consensus that the sanctions announced before Xi's visit will jeopardize the bilateral ties and force Beijing to shut down dialogue channels regarding cyber security."

The two countries have had about 20 rounds of talks in negotiating a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and have recently exchanged negative lists. Ruan Zongze expects big progress to be made during Xi's visit. "If achieved, it means that we put the two biggest economies in the world on a rule-based track to develop bilateral trade," said Ruan.

This is Xi's first state visit to the U.S. as Chinese President. He had an informal summit at the Sunnylands retreat in California in June of 2013 at the invitation of President Obama.

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