Handle disputes properly: Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State John Kerry shake hands prior to holding a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday said in a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry that the general direction of Sino-US relations should not be affected by disputes, a remark seen by Chinese observers as a reference to solving the South China Sea disputes.

The Chinese president met with Kerry in Beijing on Sunday to discuss his forthcoming state visit to the US in September, at a time of heightened concerns over the increasing assertiveness of the US over the South China Sea.

"The two sides should manage, control and handle disputes in an appropriate way so that the general direction of the bilateral relationship will not be affected," Xi told Kerry during Sunday's meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

"The broad Pacific Ocean is vast enough to embrace both China and the US," Xi reiterated.

During the meeting, Xi made repeated mention of the importance of building a new model of major-country relationships, emphasizing that Sino-US relations remain stable on the whole.

"Xi's remark was to serve as a reminder to US President Barack Obama of the big picture of Sino-US relations, that we should not let issues involving the South China Sea overshadow the direction of developing healthy relations between the two biggest economies in the world," Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies, Fudan University, told the Global Times.

A new model of major-country relationships is a concept Xi first proposed in 2013 during a meeting with Obama, with the aim of developing Sino-US relations based on avoidance of conflict and confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

During the Sunday meeting, Xi said the new type of China-US relationship has witnessed an early bounty with progress on trade, investment, the number of visitors to each other's territory, energy, and military-to-military and people-to-people exchanges. The two countries should expand on existing cooperation, said the president.

Echoing Xi's evaluation of the bilateral ties, Kerry said the extensive cooperation between the US and China has shown the world the important roles of the two nations in addressing major international and regional issues.

It also proved that the two sides were able to manage their disputes in a mature manner, said Kerry.

The meeting between Xi and Kerry was held one day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at a joint press conference after talks with Kerry, restated that China's resolve to safeguard its territorial integrity is "unshakable," and that the country remains interested in dialogue.

"While Xi has provided general direction on the development of Sino-US relations, Wang has given more specific details on China's stance and bottom line in the South China Sea, that the country will not stop its construction of maritime facilities despite increasing pressure from the US," Wu noted.

Wu said that China insists on diplomatic channels rather than military intervention in resolving the South China Sea issues, and that the US, which is not a claimant country in the waters, should not interfere in the matter.

It was reported Tuesday that a US official allegedly said that the Pentagon was considering sending military aircraft and ships to assert "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea.

Senior State Department officials in Washington said ahead of the talks in Beijing that Kerry would "leave his Chinese interlocutors in absolutely no doubt that the US remains committed to maintaining freedom of navigation," which is "a principle that we are determined to uphold."

Also on Tuesday, Japan and the Philippines conducted a joint naval exercise in the South China Sea.

Wang Xiaopeng, an expert in maritime and border studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the US is pushing for a more explicit role as the arbitrator in the waters by lining up with the claimant countries. 

"[The US interference in the South China Sea] is going against the general trend in the world that values peaceful development, as in the essence of building a new model of major-country relationships," Wang told the Global Times.

China and the US, as the two superpowers across opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean, should minimize the impact of conflicts over the waters by strengthening communication, he said.

"The China-proposed 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, which covers large areas in the South China Sea, has gained widespread support from most of the Asian countries, which proves that what the region needs is cooperation rather than confrontation," said Wang, adding that claimant countries like the Philippines could benefit from cooperating with China on developing the Silk Road initiative.