For its part, the Obama administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to prepare for the visit and to send a message of willingness to partner with China on a range of issues. The secretaries of defense, state and commerce have delivered major speeches on the topic, and President Obama has immersed himself in detailed preparations.

For most of the first two decades of modern US-China relations, starting in 1972, the differences between the two countries were submerged in a common anti-Soviet stance. In the 1990s, differences over trade, human rights and regional security reemerged, as the common strategic objectives diffused.

After 2001, the US became fixated on counter-terrorism and awash in a bubble economy, to some extent diverting US eyes from US interests in Asia. China marched forward, as a new member of the World Trade Organization, rapidly growing its economy and attracting Western investment. China's regional influence and global interests grew accordingly. The China that has emerged is a much more capable country than at any time in the past nearly 40 years of the US-China relationship.

Today, the US is changing its foreign policy and returning to its traditional role in Asia. This is not intended to "contain" or threaten China, but to nurture, protect and advance US interests there. The problems that confront Washington and Beijing are wide-ranging and serious, but so too is the potential for cooperation. Despite different histories, cultures, values, and systems, the US and China nonetheless have the potential to perpetuate peace and prosperity together. China benefited greatly from the post-war system, as did the US and China's neighbors - Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Southeast Asia.

China, as a renewed, economically vibrant major power, can work with the US in the Asia-Pacific region to prolong peace and prosperity. Failure and conflict would waste the hopes of not just our two peoples, but of the 21st century as a whole.

President Hu's visit, and the careful preparations that preceded it, have set the stage for adopting a course to navigate the challenges of the next few years, as China goes through a generational transition in leadership and the US and others experience elections.

With wisdom and will, the meeting of Presidents Obama and Hu can chart the course for decades to come.

The author is vice-president for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the US.