China seeks to calm US fears over territorial dispute

China’s ties with the United States remain stable, Chinese president Xi Jinping said yesterday, as he sought to defuse tension over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea that has raised fears of confrontation.

“I look forward to continuing to develop this relationship with President Obama and to bring China-US relations to a new height along a track of a new model of major country relationship,” Xi told US secretary of state John Kerry at the end of Kerry’s two-day trip to China.

Kerry’s trip has been dominated by deepening security concerns about Beijing’s maritime ambitions in the South China Sea.