WASHINGTON: Chinese heir apparent Xi Jinping told US business leaders Wednesday that relations between the two powers were at "a new historical starting point," as he broadened a week-long US charm offensive.
Speaking during a lavish ballroom lunch aimed at wooing the top crust of corporate America, Vice President Xi described Sino-American ties as an "unstoppable river that keeps surging ahead" despite twists and turns.
"It is a course that cannot be stopped or reversed," he said describing ever more intertwined interests. "Chinese-US relations are now at a new historical starting point in the second decade of the 21st century."
Xi is on a high-profile visit to the United States, which many hope will close an acrimonious chapter in relations characterized by mistrust and mudslinging, particularly in the commercial sphere.
As the tectonic plates of global trade have shifted in the last two decades, China and the United States have frequently collided, jutted and bumped against each other, sometimes to damaging effect for both.
With Xi widely tipped to get China's top job next year and Obama in a November re-election battle, Xi's US visit is being seen as a dress rehearsal for what could become the world's most crucial political and economic relationship.
During the trip Xi has worked US constituencies key to the bilateral ties: official Washington, corporate leaders and, later Wednesday, small-town America.
Stops have included the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, Congress, the US-China Business Council and Muscatine, Iowa -- where he visited on an exchange in 1985.
Throughout his trip Xi has received the trappings of a state visit -- even if he is only head of state in waiting.
In a broad-ranging speech Wednesday, Xi told business leaders that ties should now focus on increased understanding, mutual respect for core interests, trade and cooperation in international affairs.
"Over the past 33 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the friendship between our two peoples has deepened, mutually beneficial cooperation has expanded and our interests have become increasingly interconnected."
At the luncheon Xi was flanked by a cadre of Chinese Communist Party officials, as well as chief executives from Coca Cola, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Procter & Gamble and Estee Lauder.
Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent expressed the cautious optimism felt in the US business community about expanding ties with China.
He described Xi's visit as "another important milestone toward building an enduring and constructive relationship between our two nations."
The Chinese leader largely steered clear of specific policy pronouncements, but stressed the mutual benefits of trade, pointing out that 47 of 50 US states had seen their exports with China grow in the last decade.
Despite this growth many Americans and their Congress angrily accuse Beijing of not playing by the rules.
They accuse China of keeping the value of its currency unfairly low to fuel inexpensive exports, which have catalysed China's headlong dash toward becoming an economic superpower.
From June 2010 Beijing has allowed the yuan to rise 8.5 percent against the dollar, in part because of domestic inflation pressures -- making the yuan an increasingly dubious scapegoat for lopsided trade.
In the last decade trade between the two countries has increased over 275 percent and is now worth half a trillion dollars a year.
But Chinese exports still make up 80 percent of bilateral trade, despite China joining the World Trade Organization a decade ago, leading to accusations of protectionism from US industry.
Speaking during a lavish ballroom lunch aimed at wooing the top crust of corporate America, Vice President Xi described Sino-American ties as an "unstoppable river that keeps surging ahead" despite twists and turns.
"It is a course that cannot be stopped or reversed," he said describing ever more intertwined interests. "Chinese-US relations are now at a new historical starting point in the second decade of the 21st century."
Xi is on a high-profile visit to the United States, which many hope will close an acrimonious chapter in relations characterized by mistrust and mudslinging, particularly in the commercial sphere.
As the tectonic plates of global trade have shifted in the last two decades, China and the United States have frequently collided, jutted and bumped against each other, sometimes to damaging effect for both.
With Xi widely tipped to get China's top job next year and Obama in a November re-election battle, Xi's US visit is being seen as a dress rehearsal for what could become the world's most crucial political and economic relationship.
During the trip Xi has worked US constituencies key to the bilateral ties: official Washington, corporate leaders and, later Wednesday, small-town America.
Stops have included the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, Congress, the US-China Business Council and Muscatine, Iowa -- where he visited on an exchange in 1985.
Throughout his trip Xi has received the trappings of a state visit -- even if he is only head of state in waiting.
In a broad-ranging speech Wednesday, Xi told business leaders that ties should now focus on increased understanding, mutual respect for core interests, trade and cooperation in international affairs.
"Over the past 33 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the friendship between our two peoples has deepened, mutually beneficial cooperation has expanded and our interests have become increasingly interconnected."
At the luncheon Xi was flanked by a cadre of Chinese Communist Party officials, as well as chief executives from Coca Cola, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Procter & Gamble and Estee Lauder.
Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent expressed the cautious optimism felt in the US business community about expanding ties with China.
He described Xi's visit as "another important milestone toward building an enduring and constructive relationship between our two nations."
The Chinese leader largely steered clear of specific policy pronouncements, but stressed the mutual benefits of trade, pointing out that 47 of 50 US states had seen their exports with China grow in the last decade.
Despite this growth many Americans and their Congress angrily accuse Beijing of not playing by the rules.
They accuse China of keeping the value of its currency unfairly low to fuel inexpensive exports, which have catalysed China's headlong dash toward becoming an economic superpower.
From June 2010 Beijing has allowed the yuan to rise 8.5 percent against the dollar, in part because of domestic inflation pressures -- making the yuan an increasingly dubious scapegoat for lopsided trade.
In the last decade trade between the two countries has increased over 275 percent and is now worth half a trillion dollars a year.
But Chinese exports still make up 80 percent of bilateral trade, despite China joining the World Trade Organization a decade ago, leading to accusations of protectionism from US industry.
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