Xi, Obama hold second meeting on economic ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama held the second meeting here on Saturday to exchange views on economic ties. The two leaders informed each other of their domestic economic situation and discussed the economic relations between China and the United States. Before heading into the meeting, Xi and Obama took a walk at the picturesque Sunnylands, a 200-acre (81-hectare) Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, California. At their first meeting on Friday afternoon, the two leaders agreed to build a new type of relations between China and the United States, the world's two largest economies. Noting that their relationship now stands at a new starting point in history, Xi said the two countries share important converging interests. The Chinese president called on the two sides to work together to build a new type of relations between major countries in an innovative and active way so as to serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples and to promote development and progress of human society. Obama, for his part, said the U.S.-China relationship is important not only for the prosperity and security of the two countries, but also for the Asia Pacific region and the whole world. He said that his country welcomes the continuing peaceful rise of China as a world power and it is actually in the interest of the United States that China continues on the path of success. They also exchanged views on the domestic and foreign policies of the two countries as well as international and regional issues of common concern. At a joint press conference following their Friday meeting, Xi said both sides agreed to expand all levels of dialogues and communications to strengthen mutual understanding and trust. They agreed to step up cooperation in extensive fields such as 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. Obama said both Xi and himself recognized the unique opportunity to take the U.S.-China relationship to a new level, adding he is absolutely committed to not missing this opportunity. Xi arrived in California Thursday after wrapping up a three-nation Latin American tour.