China is ready to cooperate with the United States and manage differences – Xi

BEIJING, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that China is ready to cooperate with the United States as the two sides manage their differences and work together to respond to global challenges, Chinese state media reported.

Whether or not the United States and China will be able to find the “right” way to get along will be crucial to the world, Xi said in a message delivered at the annual dinner of the New York-based National Committee on US-China Relations.

Xi’s call for more stable bilateral relations, which he says should be based on the principles of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” comes ahead of an important visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Washington later this week.

The trip by China’s top diplomat from Thursday to Saturday will be the highest in-person engagement ahead of the expected meeting between US President Joe Biden and Xi in San Francisco at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November.

Several senior US officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing this summer.

Washington’s top priority has been to ensure that the intense competition between the world’s two largest economies and their differences over a range of issues, from trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea, does not turn into conflict.

“Chinese observers believe (Wang’s) visit will pave the way for a possible meeting between the presidents of the two countries, but they added that Washington needs to make concrete efforts to address Beijing’s concerns and show its sincerity,” China’s state-controlled Global Times newspaper said. He wrote in the comment.

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