Treasury secretary meets China’s Xi
President pledges to work with U.S.
BEIJING – China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, told the U.S. Treasury secretary today he wants strong ties with Washington as the two sides resumed high-level interaction following a monthslong hiatus during the Chinese leadership transition.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew planned to raise issues including North Korea’s nuclear program, China’s exchange rate controls and cyberspying during his two day visit.
“I attach great importance to China’s relationship with the United States,” Xi told Lew during a meeting attended by diplomats and finance officials from both governments. “We stand ready to work with the U.S. side to continue to develop this China-U.S. cooperative partnership so that we will be able to open a path of cooperation between major countries.”
Leaders of the world’s two biggest economies have stressed their common interests in security affairs and global economic stability even as they wrangle over complaints about China’s trade surpluses, its exchange rate controls and efforts to curb global warming.