US, China must resolve differences as equals: Chinese President
June 6, 2016, 5:19 am

“The key is not to adopt a confrontational attitude towards any differences,” Xi said [Xinhua]

Xi was attending an opening ceremony of a China-US high-level dialogue.

So long as the two sides tackle differences and sensitive issues in the principle of mutual respect and equality, the bilateral relations can avoid major disturbance, Xi was quoted as saying by state agency Xinhua.

“The key is not to adopt a confrontational attitude towards any differences,” he said.

Noting that “some differences cannot be solved at the moment”, Xi told delegates that both sides “should take each others’ actual situations into consideration and take a constructive approach”.

Senior Chinese and US officials gathered on Monday in Beijing to kick off the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), the last for the Obama administration, to discuss a wide range of economic issues from macroeconomic policy, investment treaty to industrial overcapacity and trade disputes.

The US and China have had several rounds of unfruitful talks on a bilateral investment treaty.

A total of 24 rounds of investment treaty talks have been held since negotiations started in 2008 as both countries sought to increase mutual investment.

China’s monetary authorities are also hoping to coordinate policy efforts with the US Federal Reserve.

Beijing has argued that the US should tread cautiously as it tightens monetary policy and avoid any surprises.

People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Chen Yulu warned earlier in February that a strengthening dollar could fuel a crisis in emerging markets. He said the central banks of the world’s top two economies should work more closely to counter a trend of weakening global economic policy coordination.

Meanwhile, the South China Sea has become a flashpoint between the two countries with the US increasing its naval patrols and exercises to demonstrate what it calls “freedom of navigation”.

Chinese Admiral Sun Jianguo has said China will not be bullied over pending international court ruling on the disputed waterway.

“We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble,” Sun told the Shangri-La Dialogue over the weekend.

During a visit to Mongolia on Sunday, US secretary of state John Kerry urged Beijing not to establish an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

TBP and Agencies