Xi says China-US ties 'at new historic starting point'

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping said Thursday the Sino-US relations are "at a new historic starting point."

"China is willing to work together with the United States to respect each other, seek mutual benefit and reciprocity, focus on cooperation, and manage and control differences," Xi said during talks with visiting US President Donald Trump.

Since Wednesday afternoon, the two presidents have had in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral ties and issues of common concern, and reached broad consensus, he said.

"We believe Sino-U.S. relations concern not only the well-being of both peoples, but also world peace, prosperity and stability," Xi said.

The presidents agreed that cooperation is the "only correct choice" for China and the United States, and a better future would only be achieved through win-win cooperation, according to Xi.

They agreed to maintain the leading role of head-of-state diplomacy in developing bilateral relations, Xi noted.

The two sides agreed to increase exchanges at various levels, give a full play to the four high-level dialogue mechanisms -- the diplomatic and security dialogue, the comprehensive economic dialogue, the law enforcement and cybersecurity dialogue, and the social and people-to-people dialogue, Xi said.

They also agreed to expand cooperation in areas such as trade, the military, law enforcement and people-to-people exchanges, among others.

Both sides agreed to strengthen communication and coordination on issues involving the Korean Peninsula and Afghanistan.

"There can be no more important subjects than China-US relations," Trump said at the talks. "We have a capacity to solve world problems for many years to come."