China and the United States (US), regarded as two significant powers in the world, now face a new chance to choose to cooperate rather than compete in East Asia, a region where many US analysts worry the US role might be outweighed by China, experts from China and the United States said at an international seminar this week.

The topic of the seminar is "East Asia Cooperation and China-US Relations."

There is rising concern from some Americans that the US might be marginalized or even excluded from the increasingly regionalistic East Asia, said David M. Lampton, a professor of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), referring to the fact that the US has not been invited to attend the East Asia Summit to be held in Malaysia in December.

"The East Asia Summit represents a kind of half-way house: it does not include countries that should be there from the standpoint of their political and security relevance", said J. Stapleton Roy, the former US ambassador to China.

However, the US experts all agreed that China and the US should be more cooperative in the East Asia regional institution building process.

"I don't believe China has a policy to marginalize or even expel the US from the East Asian affairs", said Shambaugh, who is the professor of Political Science and International Affairs in the George Washington University.

"As a matter of fact, I don't think that the US can be marginalized or expelled from the region", Shambaugh said in an interview with Xinhua Friday.

According to Shambaugh, US-China relations are a key property of the emerging regional system, because of the institutionalized multilateral cooperation until very recently, and because the US-China relationship is still a major power relationship and the most important strategic relationship in the region.

"The US can be a positive partner in emerging Asian regionalism, but it needs to get involved at all levels", Shambaugh said, warning that if the US winds up being increasingly marginalized or sidelined from Asian multilateral meetings, it will have no one to blame but itself.

Shambaugh also noted that China's engagement with its region is one of the positive trends for the increasingly stronger community building process.

"Today, China is a positive partner for nations in Asia, and this is to be welcomed", Shambaugh said in a speech delivered at the seminar.

The latest statistics from China's Customs showed that the two-way trade between China and ASEAN countries was valued at US$16.63 billion in the first two months in 2005, up 23.6 percent over the that of last year, and the figure reached US$105.9 billion in the 2004.

"I think the big need for China and the US right now is to create a cooperative organization to address security issues and in terms of economic organization, if the region is moving toward a free trade area, the US will probably want in", Lampton said.

Wu Jianmin, president of China University of Foreign Affairs, also echoed the US scholars' views in the seminar.

"East Asia is at an early stage of significant transformation, development and prosperity, which is not only a reality that important international players, such as China and the US, is facing with, but also a future mission for them, Wu said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2005)