US-China relations likely to shape the 21st century, claims Obama

US President Barack Obama, opening two days of high-level talks with China, said the discussions could lay the groundwork for a new era of “sustained co-operation, not confrontation” in a relationship likely to shape the 21st century.

Obama said that Washington and Beijing needed to forge closer ties to address a host of challenges from lifting the global economy out of a deep recession to nuclear proliferation and global climate change.

“I believe that we are poised to make steady progress on some of the most important issues of our times,” the president told diplomats from both countries assembled in the vast hall of the Ronald Reagan Building.

Obama said he was under “no illusions that the United States and China will agree on every issue”, but he said closer co-operation in important areas was critical for the world.

“The relationship between the United States and China will shape the 21st century, which makes it as important as any bilateral relationship in the world,” Obama said.

The discussions in Washington represent the continuation of a dialogue begun by the Bush administration, which focused on economic tensions between the two nations. Obama chose to expand the talks to include foreign policy issues as well as economic disputes over trade and currency values.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, welcoming the Chinese, said the two nations were “laying brick by brick the foundation for a stronger relationship”.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Vice Premier Wang Qishan, China’s top economic policymaker, both spoke of hopeful signs that the global economy was beginning to emerge from its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Obama also said that the US and China have a shared interest in clean and secure energy sources.

As the world’s largest energy consumers, Obama said that neither country profits from a dependence on foreign oil. He also said neither country will be able to combat climate change unless they work together.

However, the discussions this week were not expected to bridge wide differences between the two nations on climate change and officials cautioned against expecting any major breakthroughs in other areas either.