SHARING THOUGHTS: Dr. Henry Kissinger (left) attends an event promoting his new book On China organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in New York on July 18 (CHEN WEN)

One of the biggest challenges of U.S. foreign policy-makers is to develop a long-term strategy for dealing with China, said former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

That's the same problem for China, Kissinger said during an event promoting his new book On China organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in New York on July 18.

The elder statesman expressed concerns that that too much of Sino-American relations concentrates on solving issues of complexity at the expense of developing a commonly defined project.

The 88-year-old made a secret trip to China meeting with Chinese officials 40 years ago, a voyage that paved the way for the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in 1979.

Commenting on the South China Sea issue, Kissinger said that the immediate issue is the freedom of navigation in the area regardless of the territorial disputes between countries in the region. China and the United States can work cooperatively in this regard, instead of arguing about who dominates.

The two countries can think of themselves as co-evolving partners, he said.

According to him, due to differences in history and culture, China and the United States tend to have different approaches to problems. "Americans are better at developing pragmatic short-term solutions," while "Chinese are better at developing conceptual approaches."

He spent a great length illustrating Chinese history and culture as well as diplomacy in his book On China. "This is a book written for non-Chinese to understand China," he said.

The book has been a hot topic among those interested in China-U.S. relations since it was published in May. It has been New York Times bestseller list for seven weeks.

(Reporting from New York)