China committed to building major-country relations with U.S.: President Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping (C, front) meets with U.S. delegates attending the 7th China-U.S. business leaders' and former senior officials' dialogue at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 17, 2015. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday said that China is committed to working with the United States to build a new type of major-power relationship.

If the goal can be achieved, it will be good for the people of China and the United States, as well as for world peace and development, said Xi when meeting with a group of U.S. business leaders and former U.S. officials.

While saying that China and the U.S. share broad common interests, Xi acknowledged that there are some differences, too. Both sides, he said, must accommodate each other's core interests, avoid strategic miscalculation, and properly manage and control differences.

Xi said the slowdown of China's economic growth is the result of the country's development pattern transformation and economic restructuring.

"We will continue to deepen economic reform and ensure that the market will play a decisive role in allocating resources," he said.

He added the economy still has great potential and is capable of maintaining medium- to high-speed growth.

The president called on both sides to intensify macroeconomic policy coordination and work together to promote global economic growth.

He also suggested that trade and investment facilitation be pushed, and hoped the U.S. business community would support China's reform and opening up.

Mentioning his upcoming state visit to the U.S, Xi said he was ready to have a profound exchange of views with President Barack Obama on major issues of common concern.

He hoped that the visit will deepen friendship between the two peoples, expand pragmatic cooperation and push forward the development of China-U.S. ties.

The U.S. representatives who addressed the meeting included Thomas Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Tamara L. Lundgren, president, chief executive officer and director of Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc.; former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; and John Thornton, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution.

The U.S. business community is committed to enhancing bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and stands for an early conclusion of bilateral investment treaty, according to the representatives.

They lauded the role the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and China's Belt and Road Initiative would have to global economic development.