Chinese netizens have expressed hopes that President Hu Jintao's state visit to the United States from January 18 to 21 will further boost Sino-US ties.

"The visit hopefully will bring the Sino-US relations into a new 'spring' and advance its development in a manner that ensures mutual benefit and facilitates the world's welfare as well," a netizen nicknamed Nishiwodejinguo wrote in a web post on Xinhuanet.com, a major Chinese news portal.

Noting that the past 40 years saw ups and downs of Sino-US ties, the web post said people expected the visit to enrich the strategic significance and global influence of the China-US relations.

Also on Xinhuanet.com, a netizen nicknamed Huaxia Yingxiong said the visit was especially important because it came as the Sino-US ties after over three decades of development have arrived at a "critical juncture" and are experiencing severe tests in political, economic, diplomatic and military fields.

A recent survey, conducted by the China Daily newspaper and the Horizon Research Consultancy Group, showed that Hu's visit has drawn great attention from the Chinese public.

Of a total of 1,443 respondents in seven major Chinese cities, including Beijing, around 60 percent believe that summit between Chinese and US leaders is an effective way to solve bilateral issues and promote common development, according to the survey conducted from December 20 to December 30, 2010.

The respondents think topics most likely to be discussed during the visit include the Korean Peninsula situation, the Taiwan issue and the bilateral trade imbalance.

Some 90 percent of the respondents consider China-US ties important, while 54.3 percent think it is very important for China to maintain good relations with the US, according to the survey.

Nearly 60 percent of the respondents think the China-US relationship will stay stable while 23.8 percent think it will get better and 10 percent think it will worsen, the survey showed.

China and the US "should seek common ground and avoid getting entangled in differences" so as to work together for a better future for both sides, said a netizen nicknamed Xian San Yi Shi, in a blog on People.com.cn.

On the same website, a netizen nicknamed "As Soft As a Piece of Cloud" said that realistically, China and the US can cooperate in a number of areas including global and regional security, climate change, economy and trade, and technologies, despite their different views and even divisions on certain issues.

Given that previous visits by heads of state between the two countries have led to improved relations, "People should have reason to expect new opportunities to be generated for boosting China-US ties from this visit," said a netizen nicknamed "I'm an Ant" on Tianya.cn.