China has no intention to challenge the present international rules and order and will never seek hegemony, President Xi Jinping said today as he asked the US to effectively handle differences after an international tribunal struck down Beijing's claim over the stragtegic South China Sea.
Xi's comments came as China and the US held their first high level political and security dialogue here to discuss contentious issues bedevilling their relations.
Visiting Beijing for the first time after the July 12 tribunal verdict which struck down China's claims of historic rights over the South Chia Sea (SCS), US National Security Advisor Susan Rice on the first day of her three day visit held extensive talks with top Chinese civil and military officials and called on President Xi.
Both sides avoided public references to the SCS verdict but called for proper handling of differences.
In his meeting with Rice, Xi called on China and the US to effectively handle differences and respect each other's core interests.
The US wants China to implement the July 12 verdict of the tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which Beijing outrightly rejected it saying it is illegal and null and void.
The US has deployed its naval fleet and conducted periodic flights and naval patrols through the SCS to assert the freedom of navigation which was strongly objected by China which claims sovereignty over all most all of SCS.
China-US common interests outweigh their differences, Xi said, noting that both sides needed more mutual trust and cooperation.
The goal of China's development is to benefit its more than 1.3 billion people, Xi said, reiterating that China has no intention to challenge the present international rules and order and it will never seek hegemony.
Xi called on both sides to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation, as well as cooperation in climate change and international and regional affairs to make pragmatic cooperation a "ballast" in China-US ties.
During her meeting with China's top military official, Rice was told that failure to properly handle sensitive issues between two countries could "very likely disturb and undermine" their military-to-military relations.
"We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we're still faced with obstacles and challenges," General Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission told Rice.
CMC the highest military body in China and is headed by Xi.
Gen Fan said the military relations had been "impacted by some complicated and some sensitive factors", he said skirting the SCS tribunal verdict.
The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan
contest China's claims in the SCS.
"If we do not properly handle these factors it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship," he warned.
Rice said that "risks of unintended consequences" of the two countries' forces operating in ever-closer proximity had been reduced thanks to better communication and other confidence-building measures.
But despite progress, "we have challenges and differences to discuss and to manage", she said.
Earlier during her talks with her Chinese counterpart and state councillor, Yang Jiechi she said the two countries should face the challenges with "candour and openness".
"We also find ourselves facing global issues and challenges and to the extent that we are able to surface those challenges in candour and openness I'm confident that we will be able to work on them as we have many others in the past", she said.
Besides holding talks on various bilateral issues, the visit of the the American national security advisor is also focussed on President Barack Obama's visit Chinese city of Hangzhou in September to take part in G20 summit.
"I look forward to the success of our presidents meeting in Hangzhou and to the success of the G-20. I'm confident that our work today will lay a strong foundation for positive outcomes out of both those sessions", she told Yang.
For his part Yang said US-China relations this year had been "generally stable" and urged increased cooperation even in the face of disagreements.
