Such a move "offers the best hope of shaping China's interests and conduct in accordance with international norms on security, trade and finance, and human rights," the 30 independent experts said in a report.

The "positive strategy" of integration would also encourage "collaboration to confront the challenges both countries face," said the experts commissioned by the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.

"The United States should approach China with an affirmative agenda from a position of confidence," said the panel of US experts, led by former commander of US forces in the Pacific Admiral Dennis Blair and former US Trade Representative Carla Hills.

The report came a day after the United States announced that it would haul China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over copyright infringements and market access barriers amid pressure from the Democratic-controlled Congress.

The WTO action followed an unprecedented decision late last month to slap penalty tariffs on China to offset government subsidies and another WTO complaint in February over industrial subsidies.

They sparked fears of a possible trade war between the two powers.

The experts agreed that "China has failed to adequately protect American intellectual property" and that Beijing should allow market forces to dictate the direction of its currency, which many American groups claim is undervalued.

But the experts warned that current attempts to pressure China into raising the value of its currency by threatening tariffs "are misguided, and could backfire."

They said that while improving China's adherence to its WTO obligations would help drive the reform process inside the country, other steps were needed to put the bilateral economic relationship on a sound footing.

They include getting the United States to put "its own economic house in order," such as by reducing its twin budget and current account deficits and by not throwing up barriers to Chinese or other foreign investment.

"The United States cannot credibly argue for open investment policies abroad if it imposes or threatens to impose additional hurdles for foreign acquisitions of US companies that raise no security threat," it said.

Washington's blocking of a bid by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to buy US energy giant Unocal in 2005 was cited as an example.

Among their string of recommendations by the experts was for the United States and China to develop a "road map" for integrating China into the Group of Eight industrialized nations, which include Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

China could perhaps initially join as an observer and dialogue partner before gaining full membership, they said, adding that the group would "strengthen legitimacy" by bringing in the world's fourth-largest economy.

On China's military build-up, a key concern in Washington, the experts said "the best way" to ensure that US security interests were not compromised "is to sustain America's space, air, and naval superiority and maintain and enhance its alliances in East Asia."

Noting US preoccupation in stabilizing Iraq, the experts expressed concern that China was "not receiving the attention it deserves."

It went on to list key challenges facing the United States today: "combating terrorism, limiting the proliferation and spread of weapons of mass destruction, reining in North Korea's nuclear ambitions, ensuring energy security... protecting the global environment."

All of those questions "will be more effectively managed with China's cooperation than without," the panel said.

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