Xi, Obama vow to keep ties along new path

President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama agreed to move forward the "new type of major-country relationship" during their phone conversation on Monday night.

The two presidents had the phone call when Xi was in Fortaleza, the Brazilian leg of his four-country visit to South America.

The two leaders have maintained close contact with each other since the "new type of major-country relationship" came to fruition when they met in Annenberg Retreat in California in June last year, and they have exchanged views about the recently concluded sixth Strategic and Economic Dialogue and fifth US-China People-to-People Exchange in Beijing.

Xi said the dialogue has injected viability into the China-US relationship, and that he appreciated Obama's greetings to the S&ED, in which the US president said the US welcomed China's peaceful rise.

Xi told Obama that China has always regarded US-China relations from a strategic view and that China is willing to work with the United States to keep the two nations on the path toward building the new type of relationship.

Xi said he hopes the two countries will continue to focus on pushing for a bilateral trade and investment treaty and on major global and regional issues, including cooperation on climate change.

Xi added that the two countries should keep moving in a positive direction for a US-China relationship with mutual respect and constructive solutions to differences.

Echoing Xi's comments, President Obama said the results of the recent S&ED showed that the two countries are on track to build a positive, secure and prosperous future, reinforcing the US' commitment to building "a new type of major-country relationship" with China. The US wants to enhance cooperation with China in trade, energy, climate change and on other hot-button issues.

Xi and Obama also exchanged views on Iran. Xi said there had been progress in nuclear talks, but challenges still remain. China is willing to work with the US and help the talks reach an agreement at an early date. The two leaders will meet at the APEC meeting in November in Beijing.

Carlos Gutierrez, chairman of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a Washington-based global strategy firm, and a former secretary of commerce in the Bush administration, said the just-concluded S&ED provides a "vision" for the world's two largest economies and will be a good platform for senior officials from both sides to communicate and exchange views on recent friction between the two countries.

"I found a great willingness among government officials to talk about how we could make it better and how we can continue to build a relationship," said Gutierrez, who has participated in past S&ED talks and will attend the upcoming economic track of the dialogue in late July. "I think we will see a very strong statement about the bilateral investment treaty that has been negotiated."