Xi arrives in California for summit with Obama

ONTARIO, the United States - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in California Thursday for a meeting with US President Barack Obama, which analysts say will help promote the long-term, sound and steady development of China-US relations.

Xi was greeted by local officials at Ontario International Airport, in Ontario, California, after his arrival by special plane.

The China-US summit, the first since Xi took office in March, will be held Friday and Saturday at Sunnylands, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Estate.

Xi and Obama are expected to discuss domestic and foreign policies, as well as issues of pivotal importance and regional and international issues of common concern, Chinese officials said.

Meeting US National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon in Beijing on May 27, President Xi said that China-US relations are now at an important stage connecting the past and the future.

Xi called on both countries to take into account the fundamental interests of the two nations and the world and jointly pursue a path that is unprecedented and inspires future generations.

Referring to the China-US summit, Xi said he and Obama will broadly and deeply discuss "important strategic issues of common concern" so as to deepen understanding, enhance mutual trust, accumulate consensus and promote cooperation.

"I am convinced that with joint efforts the summit will make important positive progress and inject new vitality into bilateral relations," Xi said, adding that the summit will benefit the two nations, promote peace, stability and prosperity in Asia, the Pacific region and the world.

China-US relations have maintained good growth momentum in the past four years, with dialogue and cooperation expanding in the areas of trade, energy, environmental issues and culture.

Both China and the United States shared a good start in bilateral relations this year and have seen opportunities to boost their growth.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that the China-US summit has been well-timed, as the Chinese and US sides both want the heads of state to meet at an early date to discuss and plan the development of bilateral relations.

The meeting would be conducive to strengthening strategic communication, increasing mutual trust, deepening bilateral cooperation and managing differences between China and the United States, analysts said.

"I am very encouraged by the announcement that the two presidents will meet, and especially by the agenda that has been announced," former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said last month in a speech delivered at a forum entitled "US- China Economic Relations in the Next Decade."

The summit "specifically emphasizes the long range relationship, the review of recent interactions, and the definition of long range goals, which could make that meeting a seminal event in Sino-US relations, and also in the relations of the world," Kissinger said.

Upon Xi's election as China's new president in March this year, Xi and Obama had telephone talks on the expansion of cooperation and mutual respect between China and the United States.

Obama said during the phone conversation that currently, US-China relations are faced with a historic opportunity to chart a course for future development.

The US side hopes to work with China to maintain contact between the heads of state of the two countries and strengthen communication and dialogue in a bid to promote steady development of bilateral ties and build a new type of inter-power relations, he said.

Xi said that China firmly maintains and promotes the development of China-US relations, and would like to work with the United States in enhancing mutual trust, expanding cooperation, handling differences, and maintaining high-level contacts.

He also said the two countries should jointly maintain and promote the sound development of a series of mechanisms, including the Strategic and Economic Dialogue and high-level consultations on humanistic exchanges, boost the development of cooperative partnership, and find a path for new-type of inter-power relations.

Xi is on the final leg of his four-nation Americas trip, which has already taken him to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Xi's visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico have given a strong boost to the all-round and in-depth development of relations between China and the three countries.