China, US agree to build new type of relations

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, agreed on Friday to build a new type of relations between China and the United States which could avoid the traditional path of confrontations and conflicts between major countries.

The two leaders made the commitment at a joint press conference following their first face-to-face meeting at Sunnylands, a 200-acre (81-hectare) Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, California.

Xi said he had an in-depth, sincere and candid discussion and reached important consensus with Obama on the domestic and foreign policies of China and the United States, the construction of a new type of relations between major countries, and international and regional issues of common concern.

"I stated very clearly to Obama that China will be firmly committed to the path of peaceful development and will unswervingly deepen reform and open up the country," Xi said, adding that China will work hard to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and to promote the noble cause of peace and development for mankind.

"By the Chinese dream, we seek to have economic prosperity, national renewal and people's well-beings. The Chinese dream is about peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, and it is connected to the American dream and beautiful dreams of people in other countries," the Chinese president said.

He said Obama and he believed that as the economic globalization develops rapidly and all countries need to sail in the same boat when faced with difficulties, China and the United States should find a new type of relationship between major countries that is different from the past one featuring inevitable confrontation and conflicts.

Both sides agreed to expand all levels of dialogues and communications and keep increasing mutual understanding and trust, Xi said. "I look forward to maintaining close exchanges with Obama through mutual visits, bilateral meetings, exchange of phone calls and letters."

"I invite Obama to come to China at a proper time for a similar meeting like this and we will exchange visits as early as possible," Xi said.

The two sides will closely cooperate to ensure positive outcomes at a new round of the strategic and economic dialogue, people-to-people exchanges and high-level consultations between China and the United States, the Chinese president said.

Chinese Minister of National Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs will also visit the United States at invitations, he added.

The two sides agreed to step up cooperation in extensive fields of economy and trade, energy, environment, people-to-people and cultural exchanges as well as local level exchanges, in order to deepen the shared interests of the two countries and expand them to all areas, Xi said.

"We should also improve and strengthen the military-to-military relationship between the two countries and promote the building of the new model of military relationship between the two sides," he said.

"We should also improve coordination on macro-economic policies, strengthen cooperation which can contribute to our respective development, and promote strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth in the Asia Pacific region and the world at large," Xi said.

"I am confident in our joint efforts to build a new model of major country relationship. I believe success depends on human efforts," he said.

"Firstly, both sides have the political will to build the relationship. Secondly, our cooperation in the last over 40 years provides a good foundation for cooperation. Thirdly, between China and the United States there are over 90 inter-governmental mechanisms which provide the institutional underpinning for our efforts. Fourthly, there is strong public support for this kind of relationship between China and the United States. There are 220 pairs of sister provinces and states and cities between China and the United States. There are nearly 190,000 Chinese students in the United States and over 20,000 American students in China. Fifthly, there is enormous scope for future cooperation between China and the United States," Xi said.

"This endeavor is unprecedented and will inspire future generations," he said. "We need to deepen mutual understanding, strengthen our mutual trust, develop our cooperation and manage our differences so that we can avoid the traditional path of inevitable confrontation between major countries and really embark on a new path."

"The Chinese nation and the American nation are great nations and the Chinese people and the American people are great peoples. As long as we stand high and look far, as long as we make specific progress and accumulate them over time, as long as we maintain confidence and determination, as long as we have wisdom and patience, I am confident that we will succeed in achieving this cause," Xi said.

Obama said he and Xi had constructive discussions on extensive issues.

He said it is very important to understand each other's strategic objectives at military and political levels, adding that Washington is taking steps to institutionalize and regularize such exchanges.

"I emphasized my firm belief to President Xi that it is very much in the interests of the United States for China's continuous peaceful rise because if China is successful, that helps to drive the world economy and puts China in a position to work with us as equal partners in dealing with many of the global challenges that no single nation can address by itself," Obama said.

He said both Xi and himself recognize the unique opportunity to take the U.S.-China relationship to a new level. The U.S. president said he is absolutely committed to not missing this opportunity.

Responding to a question about cyber security, Xi emphasized that China is a victim of cyber attacks and firmly supports cyber security. Both China and the United States share the concern over cyber security.

Within the framework of the China-U.S. strategic security dialogue, both sides agreed to set up a working group to address and continue to discuss cyber security issues.

"By conducting good-faith cooperation, we can remove misgivings and make information security and cyber security a positive area of cooperation between China and the U.S.," Xi said.