As expected, the meeting between President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday has drawn widespread attention from the two countries and the rest of the world.

To usher in a bright future for the world's most important bilateral relations, the two leaders should seize the opportunity to set the tone for their ties in the coming years.

Bearing in mind that China-US ties now go beyond bilateral boundaries and have assumed global significance, the two leaders should send positive signals to the rest of the world that they will work more closely together and jointly contribute to world peace and development.

Beijing's sincerity in cultivating a sound relationship with Washington is evident from Hu's interview with US newspapers before he embarked on the trip.

"We both stand to gain from a sound China-US relationship, and lose from confrontation," Hu said.

The centerpiece of Hu's message was that both countries should abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality as the world embraces peace and development in the new era. Only by freeing themselves from the shackles of the Cold War mindset can the two giants cooperate successfully on a wide range of issues.

This is an attempt to move beyond this mentality that has defined China-US interaction up until now and caused the up-and-down dynamic of bilateral ties in recent years.