China's new leader meets U.S. Treasury secretary

PanARMENIAN.Net - China's new leader, Xi Jinping, told the U.S. Treasury secretary on Tuesday, March 19 he wants strong ties with Washington as the two sides resumed high-level interaction following a months-long hiatus during the Chinese leadership transition, The Associated Press reported.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew planned to raise issues including North Korea's nuclear program, China's exchange rate controls and cyberspying during his two day visit.

"I attach great importance to China's relationship with the United States," Xi told Lew during a meeting attended by diplomats and finance officials from both governments. "We stand ready to work with the U.S. side to continue to develop this China-U.S. cooperative partnership so that we will be able to open a path of cooperation between major countries."

The meeting was the first high-level U.S.-Chinese contact since then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's brief visit to Beijing in September.

Leaders of the world's two biggest economies have stressed their common interests in security affairs and global economic stability even as they wrangle over complaints about China's trade surpluses, its exchange rate controls and efforts to curb global warming. Numerous computer hacking attacks on U.S. companies have been traced to China.

Xi referred to Lew as a "special representative" of President Barack Obama, suggesting he might be responsible for a wider range of issues than just finance. Xi acknowledged the two sides have "some differences" but said they have "enormous shared interests" and should "handle this relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective."

Lew said Washington wants to work with Beijing to reduce trade and investment barriers and to "protect the work of our innovators," a reference to complaints about rampant Chinese copying of foreign goods from Hollywood movies to software and telecoms technology.

"The president is firmly committed to building a relationship of growing strength," Lew said at the meeting in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's ceremonial legislature in Beijing.

Lew said the U.S. government looks forward to China's growth as a market for foreign goods. Chinese leaders have pledged to build a consumer-driven economy, reducing reliance on trade and investment. That might help to boost demand for imports, narrowing China's multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States, a chronic source of tension.