At a press conference on Tuesday, Obama said that US cooperation with China is not a zero-sum game. And there are a lot of areas where China and the US agree.

However, a sense of pique seemed to be evident with what Obama went on to say. "I'm sure the Chinese don't mind that I'm not there right now, in the sense that, you know, there are areas where we have differences and they can present their point of view and not get as much of push-back as if I were there."

It is surprising to see that instead of focusing on the real reason that caused the partial government shutdown and a possible default on Oct 17, some US pundits, politicians and news organizations have tried to find fault with China.

It is indeed true that the shutdown looks bizarre to many Chinese, but such an exceptional phenomenon actually seems bizarre to many people the world over.

The ugly fight among the two parties, Republican and Democratic, certainly looks like a joke when they get stuck in an endless election campaign mode. Neither wants the other to score despite the fact that the lives of so many people, including Chinese tourists, is negatively affected.

Apart from financial worries, the impasse has also dealt a huge blow to those who look up to the US political system but now find it increasingly dysfunctional.

That again is not China's fault.

Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary, said that he could visualize a world in which China and the US both prospered or one in which neither prospered, but he could not visualize a world in which one prospered and the other did not.

In their informal summit in Sunnylands, California, in early June, Xi and Obama pledged to defy historical rivalry that has usually plagued relations between a rising power and the existing power and seek a win-win situation.

Clearly, those who interpret Obama's absence as a win for China and a loss for the US need to evolve with the times and change their mindset. They should not get stuck in the Cold War era.

The author, based in Washington DC, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. [email protected]

(China Daily 10/11/2013 page8)