China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday praised a "new positioning" in relations with the United States that envisions cooperation alongside managed competition following his summit with Donald Trump.
Trump's Beijing visit, the first by a U.S. president in nearly a decade, runs until Friday, at a time when his Iran war is denting domestic approval ratings ahead of mid-term elections.
Xi said both leaders agreed that building a constructive, strategically stable relationship would guide ties in the next three years and beyond, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.
He described such ties as based primarily on cooperation but with measured competition for "a normal stability in which differences are controllable, and a lasting stability in which peace can be expected," the ministry added.
Analysts said the reference to "constructive, strategically stable" ties showed China was following a gradation in relations that yields a framework for diplomacy in which it can manage multi-faceted ties with the United States.
