As the most important bilateral relationship in the world, a US-China partnership is "indispensable" for addressing the main challenges of the century, a leading US think tank said in a new report.

"US-China ties could have a greater impact on international affairs than any other relationship," the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in the report titled "Smart Power in US- China relations."

"Solving the world's most serious issues -- including global financial instability, proliferation and terrorism, climate change, and energy insecurity -- is difficult to envision without joint action by Beijing and Washington," said the 41-page report.

Calling for fostering "a more cooperative relationship" and reducing "mutual tensions", it recommends Chinese and US leaders to "adopt a broader conception of their nation's interests, one that includes advancing the global good as a joint means to realizing their country's own national aims."

Disagreements between the two countries should be handled diplomatically and privately, the report said.

Other recommendations include expanding the number of diplomats and young professionals in each other's countries, creation of a joint public-private task force to promote technology exchanges, and initiating energy and climate projects.

"China and the United States can almost always achieve their diverse economic, security, and other objectives more effectively through cooperative use of their smart-power resources -- including diplomatic, economic, military, political, and cultural tools -- rather than through unilateral action," it concluded.

The report was compiled by the CSIS's Commission on China, which is co-chaired by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former head of American International Group Inc.

It was released earlier this month but was first reported by major US news media outlets on Thursday.

The commission said the report is aimed "to help construct a new strategic framework for a cooperative US-China relationship, anchored in the concept of smart power and employing clear, measurable, and enforceable goals."

The CSIS is a nonpartisan think-tank focusing on international public policy issues.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)