President Barack Obama said that China and the United States should continue to work together on their economic relationship.
“I look forward to working with President Xi as well on the global economy,” Obama said prior to a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington D.C. this afternoon. “As the world’s two largest economies, we have a special obligation to find cooperative measures that we can take to expand growth and global demand.”
Presidents Xi and Obama joined world leaders today to discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons. Both leaders spoke about the economic relationship between the two countries amid criticism of China from presidential candidates in both political parties in the United States.
Xi warned that world economic growth was lagging. “The world economic growth is sluggish, and regional issues are complex and protracted,” he said. As the largest developing country and the largest developed country, and also as the world’s top two economies, China and the United States have growing responsibilities for promoting world peace, stability and prosperity.”
Obama noted differences between the two countries on issues of cybersecurity, human rights, and China’s activities in the South China seas, but said that he hoped for a “candid” discussion of those issues.