Chian, US call for new approach to bilateral ties

Amidst hacking row and US' push in the Pacific region, President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping today met for the first time at a California resort where they discussed a host of prickly issues and called for a new approach to ties between Washington and Beijing.
Setting the tone prior to their meeting in Palm Springs today, Obama welcomed the "peaceful rise" of China as a world power.
"The United States welcomes the continuing peaceful rise of China as a world power and that, in fact, is in the United States' interest that China continues on the path of success, because we believe that a peaceful and stable and prosperous China is not only good for Chinese but also good for the world and for the United States," Obama said alongside Xi ahead of their first bilateral meeting.

Asserting that China is firmly committed to the path of peaceful development, Xi called for co-operation rather than confrontation among major powers of the world.
"President Obama and I both believe that in the age of economic globalisation and facing the objective need of countries sticking together in the face of difficulties, China and the United States must find a new path -- one that is different from the inevitable confrontation and conflict between the major countries of the past," Xi said.
"That is to say the two sides must work together to build a new model of major country relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation for the benefit of the Chinese and American peoples, and people elsewhere in the world," the Chinese President told reporters.

Noting that the international community looks to China and the United States to deliver this, Xi said when the two countries work together, they can be an anchor for world stability and the propeller of world peace.
Xi said he told Obama that China will be firmly committed to the path of peaceful development and China will be firm in deepening reform and opening up the country wider to the world.
The two leaders discussed a host of issues including cyber security.