This weekend's meeting between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping offers an opportunity for the two nations to strengthen their crucial economic ties, says former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

"It is important that the two presidents seize this moment to reinvigorate their shared economic agenda," he writes in The Wall Street Journal.

"This is the first time since China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 that the political and economic climates in both countries are ripe for establishing mutually beneficial economic agreements."

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Several statistics demonstrate China's importance to the U.S. economy. U.S. exports to China have soared in recent years, with goods exports totaling $110.5 billion in 2012. And China held $1.3 trillion of Treasurys as of March.

"Given such extraordinary interdependence, economic tensions are too high," says Paulson, now chairman of the Paulson Institute.

"China saves too much, produces too much, sells too much to Americans and consumes too little. For its part, the U.S. saves too little, consumes too much and would like to produce and sell more to China."

But encouraging signs abound. "China's new leadership team is beginning to act in ways that have the potential to rebalance the country's economy," Paulson writes.

"This is a rare moment of opportunity for both countries. We can continue to play defense, or we can play offense by using negotiations to make our economies more balanced. If we squander the moment, we will regret it," he concludes

He isn't the only heavyweight pushing for better U.S.-China economic relations.

A star-studded bi-national panel formed by the China-United States Exchange Foundation issued a report in May saying the two powers “should begin early-stage discussions of the opportunities and challenges of an eventual bilateral free-trade agreement,” Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

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