China leader says differences with US 'normal'

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING

China’s president has highlighted that differences between Beijing and the United States are normal during a joint opening ceremony of an annual high-level dialogue between the two countries Monday, and called on both sides to manage "sensitive issues".

Hong Kong daily the South China Morning Post reported Xi Jinping as saying in opening remarks at the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing that both countries should strengthen communication and cooperation on Asia-Pacific affairs.

"We should enhance the mutual trust between our two countries," Xi said. "There is no reason to be scared of having differences, the key is not to adopt a confrontational attitude towards any differences."

The dialogue comes amid tensions between the two countries over China’s territorial claims in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

"Some differences can be solved through endeavor and both sides should work harder to solve them," he said. "Some differences cannot be solved at the moment and both sides should take each others’ actual situations into consideration and take a constructive approach."

The meeting -- held in parallel with the seventh High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange -- takes place as the U.S looks forward to presidential elections in November and China is to set to host the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, from Sept. 4-6.

Xinhua reported that the S&ED would help "implement the consensus reached by the presidents of the two countries, enhance strategic communication and advance mutually beneficial cooperation, and explore ways to boost cooperation to benefit both the two countries and the world at large".