| On June 8, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping held the second China-U.S. Presidential meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the Annenberg Retreat, California. The two leaders informed each other of their domestic economic situation and policy, and exchanged in-depth views on economic relations between China and the United States.
Xi Jinping expressed that China's GDP grew by 7.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, which is conductive to adjusting economic structure and improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth. We have full confidence in a long-term sustained and healthy economic development. Under the premise that optimistic economic prospects have been fully foreseen in China, we also believe there are some risks as well as challenges. In general, these risks are controllable and we are taking targeted measures to prevent and eliminate them.
Xi Jinping said that the keynote of the current macro-policy of China is to seek improvement in stability. To be specific, macro-policy should be more stable, micro-policy should be more liberal, and social policy should serve as the base. China is speeding up the change of the economic development mode, making efforts to push forward new industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development and striving to boost domestic demand. Therefore, there is very broad space for development. The change of the economic development mode is at a critical stage in China. It will bring about enormous market potential as well as new growth points. China is fully capable of maintaining the sustained and healthy long-term economic development in the process of continuously overcoming difficulties and challenges. We have full confidence in it.
Xi Jinping stressed that we must deepen the reform in order to advance the sustained and healthy economic development. Besides the short-term reform, we are studying the promotion of a comprehensive reform scheme for a medium and long term.
Xi Jinping pointed out that economic ties have always been an important cornerstone for China-U.S. relations. As the first two largest economies of the world, China and the United States have forged economic ties characterized by highly complementary structure and profoundly converging interests. China-U.S. cooperation is not only of benefit to the development of the two countries, but also of great significance to the world economic growth. We should enhance our awareness of opportunity, win-win results as well as innovation, deepen and expand bilateral economic cooperation and endeavor to tap new interest converging points and cooperation growth points.
Xi Jinping expressed that the Chinese side hopes the U.S. side would adopt responsible macroeconomic policy, pay attention to the spillover influence of its economic and financial policy, adhere to free trade, object to protectionism, relax the restriction of high technology exportation to China, provide a fair environment for the investments made by Chinese enterprises in the United States, guarantee the safety of China's assets in the United States, and work together with China to create a new pattern in China-U.S. economic relations.
Xi Jinping proposed that both sides should strengthen cooperation in such areas of overall and strategic significance to the economic development of both countries as two-way investment, energy, infrastructure construction and regional cooperation.
Xi Jinping pointed out that it is for the common interests of the two countries to push forward together the construction of a more thorough global governance system which is better in line with the development requirement of the world productive force and better conductive to the common development of various countries of the world. China and the United States should continue to build and safeguard together the G20 mechanism, and realize the unification of the G20 development with the mutual benefit and win-win results of China and the United States.
Xi Jinping said, this meeting is the first face-to-face contact and exchange between the two heads of state of China and the United States since the two countries completed their latest leadership transitions. Besides, it is a pioneering undertaking in the high-level exchanges between the two countries. Over the past two days, President Obama and I have had in-depth and candid exchanges on bilateral relations as well as major international and regional issues by centering round the subject of building together a new type of relationship between the two great powers of China and the United States. The talks went on smoothly and a series of important consensus have been reached. This meeting sends a positive message to the people of the two countries as well as the international community that China and the United States are firmly devoted to strengthening strategic communication, enhancing strategic mutual trust, pushing forward the construction of a new type of relationship between great powers, and jointly promoting the peace, stability and prosperity in the Asian-Pacific region as well as the whole world. This meeting has yielded fruitful results.
Xi Jinping stressed that under the new circumstances, China-U.S. relations should keep forging ahead and make progress, China-U.S. cooperation should be expanded and innovated, and the two countries should respect and be tolerant to each other. The two sides of China and the U.S. should always proceed from a strategic and long-term perspective, firmly seize the right direction of China-U.S. relations and open up a new type of relationship between great powers step by step.
Obama introduced the current situation of the U.S. economy. He said that the broad economic ties between the U.S. and China are closely connected to the stability and prosperity of the two countries, and are sure to exert a significantly positive effect on world economy. The U.S. encourages Chinese enterprises to invest in the United States, and is willing to take measures to relax the restriction of exportation of U.S. high-tech products to China. The United States hopes to strengthen cooperation together with China in the fields of economy, trade and energy.
As for intellectual property protection, Xi Jinping stressed that China places great importance to it, and believed that protection of intellectual property is not only a requirement for China to perform its international obligations, but also a requirement for China to build an innovation-oriented country and achieve its own economic and social development objectives. China observes its obligations to the international treaties and strengthens intellectual property protection by laws.
Xi Jinping pointed out that the issue of climate change is one of the common challenges in front of the two countries of China and the United States as well as the whole world. China pays high attention to it and is willing to carry out extensive and practical cooperation in this field together with the United States, so as to make it a new cooperation growth point in China-U.S. relations.
Wang Huning, Yang Jiechi and others were present at the meeting.
Xi Jinping and Obama had a talk in a relaxed atmosphere while taking a walk at the Annenberg Retreat before the meeting. Obama presented a bench made of sequoia of California to Xi Jinping as a gift. Sequoia is a rare and precious tree species in California. When former U.S. President Nixon visited China in 1972, he presented several sequoia saplings of California to China as gifts. From then on, California sequoia has been successfully introduced into some provinces and cities in China and become a symbol of China-U.S. friendship.
On June 7, Xi Jinping and Obama held the first Presidential meeting and the working dinner, exchanging views on their respective domestic development, the construction of a new type of relationship between the two great powers of China and the United States as well as some international and regional issues of common interest. Xi Jinping reiterated China's principled position on Taiwan issue.
(Source: www.fmprc.gov.cn) | 
