richard mcgregor let me begin with you. tell me where you think the relationship between china and the united states is as they go to this meeting. >> well, a colleague of mine was kicking this around earlier. we weren't quite sure whether to describe this as kind of a diplomatic first date or couples counselling. in some ways it's kind of both. the u.s. and china have-- china have a much broader relationship than people realize. multiple bilateral dialogues, multiple top-level meetings. but none of them go out much further than, you know, six months to a year. it is a great strategic relationship with great distrust underlying it. and i think this is a risky but necessary meeting, risky for both xi jinping and also mr. obama to try and get some sort of at least bedrock level of understanding into the bilateral dialogue. >> is it obvious that both parties, both countries, both leaders want to improve the relationship? >> well, yes, i think so. i mean china, certainly china still wants as they used to say, a stable internati