The Summit, Sept. 26 -- China and the United States are fundamentally different in their political and ideological systems. Yet, economically, technologically and strategically, neither can afford to ignore the other. The two countries are too deeply intertwined and too consequential to the world economy to treat each other as anything less than major powers.

This makes the China - US relationship rather different from the US-Soviet relationship during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States were ideological adversaries with relatively limited economic interdependence. China and the US, in contrast, are competitors whose economies remain deeply connected.

This does not mean that cooperation has replaced rivalry. Far from it...