China, U.S. agree to build new type of relations (2)

（Xinhua）  08:29, June 09, 2013  

"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.