Since it needs China's support to ensure the success of the Copenhagen international climate change conference at the end of this year, the United States has to make some compromises, Yuan said. A breakthrough could be made in technology transfer, he said.

Cooperation in the clean energy sector may help mitigate "long-term bottlenecks" in China-U.S. relations such as trade friction and Washington's restrictions on hi-tech exports to China, Yuan said. Breakthroughs in technology transfer may not only substantially reduce U.S. trade deficit with China, but also strengthen the two countries' strategic trust, he added.

Taiya M. Smith, a visiting scholar in the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that collaboration between China and the United States in clean energy is important because the two countries face similar challenges in the energy and environmental areas. Their efforts to work together in these areas will benefit both countries, she said.

"I think cooperation, especially in clean energy, is one of those things that help to give momentum, help to give all of us the strength to continue very complicated and difficult negotiations in the future," she said.

The biggest problem in U.S.-China relations is that each side still has doubts about the long-term intentions of the other after 30 years of diplomatic relations, said Kenneth Lieberthal, a onetime presidential advisor on Asia during the Clinton administration and now a professor of political science at the University of Michigan. But wide-ranging, long-term cooperation in clean energy development can promote mutual trust, because it links the two countries' future together over the long run in a positive way, he said.

"I think this can have a significant and constructive impact on U.S.-China relations going forward," he said. "This area is so important that if we cannot cooperate, I think it could become an additional source of distrust."

Technology focus

China and the United States announced plans to establish a joint clean energy research center on July 15, following Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong's meeting with Locke and Chu. The project will be carried out by China's Ministry of Science and Technology and National Energy Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy. With initial financing of $15 million and headquarters in both countries, the center will focus on coal and clean buildings and vehicles.

Smith told Beijing Review that the establishment of the joint clean energy research center recognized the ability of the United States and China to work together in the development of clean energy.

When the United States and China created the 10-year framework for energy and environment cooperation as part of their Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), it was clear that the two countries have a lot to learn from each other, she said.

"By putting together the best minds in the United States and China, we can make progress on the issues of clean energy that we have not yet been able to make," Smith said. Climate change negotiations exemplify the long-term profitable cooperation between the United States and China and there is no reason to slow down cooperation, she added.

At the fourth SED in Annapolis in June 2008, China and the United States signed a 10-Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework and announced the first five goals to be addressed under the framework. At the fifth SED in Beijing in December 2008, they reached consensus on action plans for each of the five goals, including clean, efficient and secure electricity production and transmission; clean water; clean air; clean and efficient transportation; and conservation of forests and wetlands ecosystems.

The opportunities for cooperation on clean energy technology development between China and the United States have been scaling up, said Lieberthal. He believes it is important for both countries and for the world that China and the United States work together effectively along with others on this major issue.

"Fundamentally, the climate change negotiations are economic and in some ways trade discussions," Smith said. "So we'll need to work together to find solutions to those issues. The announcement [to establish a joint clean energy research center] demonstrates that we don't need to slow down coming up with technical solutions in improving the technology in this area while managing the political discussion."

(With reporting by Chen Wen in New York)

For more information on the development of clean energy in China, see page 24