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August 19, 2011

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US vice president: Close relationship with China vital for global economy

CHINA and America "have a responsibility to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and together boost market confidence," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping told visiting US Vice President Joe Biden yesterday.

As the world's two biggest economies, the countries should work together through the G20 group to promote global economic recovery, Xi said.

"Recently, turmoil in international financial markets has deepened and global economic growth faces severe challenges," Xi told Biden, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday at the start of a six-day visit.

Biden's visit to China is about building trust, not striking deals, and he also focused on prospects for Sino-American relations.

"I would suggest that there is no more important relationship that we need to establish on the part of the United States than a close relationship with China," Biden told Xi in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Later, Biden told Wu Bangguo, chairman of China's legislature: "I hope it doesn't sound chauvinistic to other countries, but our mutual success will benefit the whole world."

Xi told Biden during their two hours of talks: "In facing a complicated and fast-changing world, cooperation is the only correct choice for the two countries."

Biden responded: "I am absolutely confident that the economic stability of the world rests in no small part on cooperation between the United States and China."

Biden's visit comes on the heels of a US credit rating downgrade, which created uncertainty about the safety of dollar assets.

"As the international financial market has turned increasingly turbulent and global economic growth faces grim challenges, China and the United States, the world's top two economies, have a responsibility to increase macro-economic policy coordination and boost market confidence," Xi said.

"China and the United States are transforming their economic development modes and restructuring their economies, which has provided the two nations with good opportunities for cooperation," Xi added.

The Chinese vice president urged the two countries to "take an objective and rational view of their respective progress and properly evaluate each other's strategic purpose."

Xi also elaborated on how to build that trust through high-level visits, bilateral dialogue platforms, and exchanges of military and non-governmental sectors.

"The key to ensuring the healthy and steady development of China-US relations is to respect each other's core interests," Xi said.

He said the Chinese people cherish the development path and political system of their own choosing, state sovereignty and territorial integrity. Taiwan and Tibet-related issues, which concern China's core interests and the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese, should be handled prudently and properly to avoid damaging China-US relations, he said.

Biden said the US will firmly stand by the one-China policy and will not support "Taiwan independence," adding that the US acknowledges Tibet is an inalienable part of China.

"China and the United States both gain from cooperation and lose from conflicts," Xi said. Only through cooperation can the two countries forge the "close, permanent and friendly relationship" envisioned by Biden.

Biden told Xi he was impressed with the vice premier's "sweep and knowledge of history, impressed with your openness and candor," adding that he viewed foreign policy as more than just formal visits.

"It's establishing personal relationships and trust. And it is my fond hope that our personal relationship will continue to grow," he said.

Today, Xi and Biden will chair a meeting with business leaders before traveling to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province hit by a massive earthquake in 2008.

Biden will speak to high school students and visit reconstruction projects.

 

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