BEIJING: The recent summit meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump has led to new progress in the strategic stability between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
Xi visited the US from September 23 to 25 and held a series of meetings with Trump, their second summit since the American leader's visit to Beijing in May this year, which Beijing called a historic milestone.
Highlighting the summit's outcome, Wang said both presidents had a candid and in-depth exchange of views in a friendly atmosphere of mutual respect on strategic and overarching issues concerning bilateral relations and the broader global landscape, official media reported on Sunday.
Wang said the two heads of state have maintained close exchanges, including three in-person meetings and five phone talks, and fostered a pattern of interaction marked by mutual respect and sincerity, noting this has become the most valuable strategic asset in China-US relations.
Highlighting that Xi pointed out that a stable China-US economic and trade relationship requires both expanding the list of cooperation and shortening the list of problems, Wang said that the US side should treat Chinese companies fairly, resolve problems through dialogue and negotiations, and promote the sustained, stable and positive development of bilateral ties.
During Xi's visit, the US and China agreed to set up a dialogue on artificial intelligence-related incidents, operationalise boards of trade and investment and a USD 30 billion reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement.
According to separate statements issued in Washington and Beijing, the two leaders also agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and that no country or institution can be allowed to impose tolls on international waterways.
The two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on strengthening crisis communications and preventing crises between the two militaries, China's Foreign Ministry said in its readout.
Under the Board of Trade, the two countries reached consensus on recommendations for more favourable tariff treatment for USD 30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction, the White House fact sheet on the visit said.
On artificial intelligence, the leaders agreed to establish a China-US AI dialogue to exchange views on AI-related risks and benefits, with the next round to be held in November.
A communication channel for AI-related incidents will also be set up, the Chinese foreign ministry readout said.
The two heads of state agreed to make good use of AI dialogue mechanisms between the two countries and jointly prevent the misuse and abuse of AI, Wang said.
The White House fact sheet said the two leaders agreed to use the term super intelligence rather than artificial intelligence to describe the applicable emerging technologies.
Trump also urged Xi to increase production of refined petroleum products to stabilise global supply.
Asserting that the fentanyl abuse problem in the US is not caused by China, Wang said Beijing has always acted with the utmost goodwill and made every effort to assist Washington in addressing it.
He added that the two heads of state tasked both countries' law enforcement agencies with continuing to strengthen cooperation and jointly combat transnational crime.
