As nation takes place on world stage, attitudes need to change as well

Beijing - The United States should abandon its long-held missionary attitude towards China, said David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University.

He also said the two countries' Strategic and Economic Dialogue set to take place next week is unlikely to yield a breakthrough.

"The United States has always viewed China as an object to be reshaped," said Shambaugh, one of the world's leading scholars on China.

He said the US strategy to engage China and encourage the country to integrate into a world led by the US worked well during the past three decades, because during that time "China was weak and was not sure where it was going."

But now that China has risen to become a stronger economic power and has demonstrated more confidence on the world political stage in recent years, the US should deal with China with "true equity", he said.

Shambaugh's remarks came on the eve of top-level meetings between the two countries, the second round since the Obama administration took office.  More from the China Daily here.