Australian experts express cautious optimism over summit between Xi, Obama (3)

The U.S. went on to deploy 2,500 Marines in Darwin, while Obama announced U.S. intentions to "shore up" alliances in Asia and effectively escalating military tensions in the region.

Reilly said this meeting would allow the other to state a position, rather than negotiate a new one.

"Most likely Obama will try to say this is what the pivot is: we're rebalancing; re-engaging; we're not trying to contain China; not trying to threaten China - he'll use that kind of language... Xi has a similar objective: that China has legitimate objectives; it seeks only to defend; does not want to threaten anybody; doesn' t want to be the aggressor in the region, but has very much legitimate clams to pursue."

Would this be the future shape of U.S.Chinese diplomacy? Alan Dupont suggests observers would be wise to keep a level head.

"Can I resist the temptation? In the heat of the moment it's very easy to write these meetings up as some sort of watershed they're important; they're part of the incremental growth of the relationship but it would be mistake to read too much into them," the Lowy Visiting Fellow told Xinhua.