ENGAGING ANEW: Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Beijing on February 14 (PANG XINGLEI)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry started his China trip on February 14, both Valentine's Day in the West and China's Lantern Festival, the last day of the Spring Festival season and a symbol of closing out the old year and ringing in the new.

Contrary to Western media speculation before Kerry's arrival that the trip was mainly aimed at pressuring China, the theme of the two-day visit has instead focused on promoting Sino-U.S.

relations and pragmatic bilateral cooperation. Though Kerry might have missed out on a romantic Valentine's Day at home, he has helped spark a closer engagement with China.

The U.S. diplomat exchanged views with Chinese leaders during his latest trip, meeting respectively with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, State Councilor Yang Jiechi as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi. During their talks, the new type relationship between major powers topped the agenda.

Top agenda

When meeting with Kerry, President Xi first asked him to pass on to President Barack Obama that "China is firmly committed to building a new model of major-country relationship between China and the United States together with the U.S. side."

Kerry replied that managing the new model of relationship between great powers is "very important" for the United States. He told Xi that Obama "is very much looking forward to seeing you again shortly."

In talks with Wang, Kerry also expressed hope for more communication and cooperation with China this year and more substantial progress in the building of a new type of relationship with joint efforts from both sides.

Da Wei, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), said that Xi's remarks expressed optimism regarding relations between the two sides, in spite of some disagreements.

"In the meantime, Washington's senior diplomats are eager to find specific ways by which to further develop their relationship," Da added.

"Kerry's visit to China, coming about half a year after President Xi and President Obama reached a consensus on establishing a new type of bilateral relationship, is meant to put into action a series of plans for bilateral interactions this year," said Huang Ping, Director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Huang added that as the United States pursues its "pivot to Asia," increased dealings with China are inevitable. "There will be several opportunities for Xi and Obama to meet this year, during which they may invigorate ties between the two major countries."

However, some observers claimed that establishing a new type of bilateral relationship doesn't necessarily mean the two countries will avoid the differences within their relations.

"The Sino-U.S. relationship is featured by both cooperation and competition," said Li Yan, another researcher on U.S. studies at CICIR.