Both the Chinese and American news media have been hyping the bumpy ride of Sino-US relations in the upcoming lunar Year of the Tiger. It has drawn so much attention that even people who usually show no interest in international affairs are expressing their concerns these days.

The trouble with current China-US ties is truly worrisome. The US arms sale to Taiwan, US President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, the mounting pressure on Chinese renminbi revaluation and a string of US trade protectionist moves have changed the Chinese perception of Obama, who was deemed multilateral, conciliatory and willing to listen.

A harmonious relationship. [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Most Americans, still suffering from a bad economy, feel deep unease about the fact that China has become its largest creditor. China's fast growing economic might, political clout and increasing assertiveness on regional and world affairs are something too sudden for many Americans to handle.

There is a wide range of other issues that the two countries are locking horns on, such as trade deficits, human rights and a proper approach to thorny international issues, such as the Iranian nuclear energy program.

But the numerous problems in bilateral ties don't mean that the two nations will face a final showdown or engage in a mutually destructive game.

If we look back at China-US relations in the last few decades, the two countries have waded through much more dangerous waters. The annual renewal of the most favored nation trade status in the early 1990s, for example, was a much bigger fight than any of the current issues.

In that sense, there is no need to panic about a possible all-out trade war and other large mutually destructive actions. Similar words expressed by former Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell years ago are still descriptive of the bilateral ties today: Neither Chinese nor American leadership believes that there is anything inevitable about the relationship any more - either inevitably bad or inevitably good.