China, 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 discussed a host of prickly issues, including cyber security and climate change, as they called for a new approach towards bilateral ties.
In a statement issued after their two-day summit at a California resort, the two sides committed to work together to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as part of their combined effort against climate change.
"For the first time, the US and China will work together and with other countries to use the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), among other forms of multilateral cooperation," the White House said.

Xi departed after holding series of meetings with the Obama over the past two days at Palm Springs, a Californian resort near Los Angeles.
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 US," 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 US 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.