During a meeting in Peru, Obama again urged
all sides in the dispute over the South China Sea reduce tensions and resolve
their disputes peacefully. He encouraged China to advance economic reforms,
including a transition to a market-determined currency exchange rate.
The meeting is expected to be the last
between the two leaders before President-elect Donald Trump enters the White
House. Trump has been sharply critical of China.
"We meet at a hinge moment in the
China-US relationship," Xi said at the start of the meeting, through an
interpreter.
"I hope the two sides will work together
to focus on cooperation, manage our differences and make sure there is a smooth
transition in the relationship and that it will continue to grow going
forward," he said.
Trump, a Republican, has accused China of
being a currency manipulator and promised to slap big tariffs on imported
Chinese goods. He has called climate change a "hoax" designed to help
Beijing.
"The concept of global warming was
created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing
non-competitive," Trump wrote in a tweet in 2012.
Obama and Xi pushed for an international
agreement forged in Paris to combat global warming. Obama called that an
example of the benefits of the two countries working together.
"Now we face the work of making sure
our economies transition to become more sustainable," he said.
Trump's election has raised questions about
whether the United States would try to pull out of the accord, a key legacy
accomplishment for Obama, a Democrat.
China also helped negotiate the Iran
nuclear agreement, another big piece of Obama's foreign policy that Trump has
threatened to dismantle.
Neither Xi nor Obama mentioned Trump in
their remarks in front of reporters.
"Mr. President, I would like to
commend you for the active efforts you've made to grow this relationship,"
Xi said to Obama.
Obama noted that the two leaders would
discuss areas of disagreement, including "the creation of a more level
playing field for our businesses to compete, innovation policies, excess
capacity and human rights," he said.
"I continue to believe that a
constructive US-China relationship benefits our two peoples and benefits the
entire globe," he said.
The two leaders addressed the threat of
North Korea’s efforts to advance its nuclear weapons, reaffirming their
commitment to achieving the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, the White
House said.
Obama also raised the issue of excess
capacity in industrial sectors including steel, the White House said, and urged
the rapid launch of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, in line with the
G-20 Leaders’ agreement in Hangzhou, China.
