Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Beijing on Sunday, discussing his forthcoming state visit to the United States in September.

Recalling U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to China in November last year, Xi said he looked forward to continuing to talk with the U.S. president in September in a "candid and in-depth" way on the bilateral ties and other major issues to further expand cooperation and benefit the people of the two countries as well as the world at large.

The consensus between Xi and Obama to build a new model of major-country relationship is in the common interests of China and the United States, he said.

"In my view, the China-U.S. relationship remains stable on the whole," Xi told Kerry during Sunday's meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

"The new type of China-U.S. relationship has witnessed early harvest."

During the meeting he highlighted new progress on trade, investment, the number of visitors to each other's territory, energy, and military-to-military and people-to-people exchanges.

China and the United States have also been in close communication on major regional and global issues, said the Chinese president, suggesting the two sides expand practical cooperation to make their new type of relationship more fruitful.

"Meanwhile, the two sides should manage, control and handle disputes in an appropriate way so that the general direction of the bilateral relationship will not be affected," said the president.

"The broad Pacific Ocean is vast enough to embrace both China and the United States," Xi reiterated.

He hoped that the two sides would work together to enhance mutual trust, reduce doubt, and boost cooperation through more dialogues, to ensure that the bilateral ties would consistently grow along the right track of the new type of major-country relationship.

Echoing Xi's evaluation of the bilateral ties, Kerry said the extensive cooperation between the United States and China had shown the world the important roles of the two nations in addressing major international and regional issues.

It also proved that the two sides were able to manage their disputes in a matured manner, said the U.S. official.

Kerry highlighted the cooperation between the two countries on climate change, fighting against Ebola and the Iranian nuclear issue, hoping for more cooperation between the two countries.

Kerry said President Obama looks forward to continuing to exchange views with President Xi on issues of common concern during his state visit to the United States in September, which the secretary of state said will be an important event for the bilateral ties.

The U.S. will work together with China to make preparation for Xi's visit, Kerry said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2015)