Post date: Jun 08, 2013 8:45:28 PM
U.S. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China conclude a two day 'informal' summit
in southern California that touched on tough issues between the two powers, including cyber hacking and North Korea.
RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 8, 2013) ( POOL) - U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinpingconcluded a second day of discussions on Saturday (June 8) on thorny issues from cyber hacking to North Korea at a get-to-know-you summit that may set the stage for U.S.-Chinese relations for years to come.
The two-day meeting at a sunny retreat near Palm Springs, California, was meant to be an informal chance for Obama and Xi to inject some warmth into often chilly relations and talk about their differences openly.As their second day of meetings began, Obama and Xi appeared outside in the morning heat at the Sunnylands retreat, a secluded 200-acre (81-hectare) complex where eight U.S. presidents have visited.
Obama and Xi walked slowly side by side, smiling and chatting amiably in English across a manicured green lawn between two ponds. Trailed by translators and aides, the two leaders, dressed casually in shirtsleeves, walked across a small arched bridge.
"Terrific," said Obama when asked by a reporter how meetings were going.
The two leaders have plenty to discuss as they wrestle with how to handle China's rise on the world stage, more than 40 years after former U.S. President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit to Communist China in 1972 ended decades of estrangement between Washington and Beijing.
Ties between the two countries have been buffeted in recent months by strains over trade disputes, bellicose behavior by nuclear-armed North Korea, human rights issues and each country's military intentions.
China experts say if Obama and Xi can develop personal rapport - something lacking between U.S. presidents and Xi's notoriously wooden predecessor, Hu Jintao - and make at least some progress on substantive issues, the summit could gain historic significance.
While China worries that the United States is trying to encircle it militarily with its strategic "pivot to Asia," the cyber dispute is the most pressing issue for Obama.
The summit also included lengthy discussion on North Korea, world trade andChina's territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas.
The talks were an opportunity for Obama to score a foreign policy success at a time when the lack of U.S. action on Syria weighs heavily on his record.
Xi is eager to be seen on an even footing with the American leader and to showChina's ruling echelon and public that he can promote their interests on the world stage as Beijing seeks what it calls a new "big-power" relationship with Washington that takes China's rise into account.
It is his first U.S. trip since taking over the presidency in March in China's once-in-a-generation leadership transition.