US President Barack Obama wrapped up his first trip to China yesterday by meeting Premier Wen Jiabao, who said the two nations were better off as partners not rivals, and visiting the Great Wall.
The US President left Beijing for South Korea, where he met President Lee Myung-Bak yesterday for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and a stalled bilateral free trade pact.
Mr Obama and Mr Wen hailed their countries' willingness to build a new, in-depth partnership as they sat down for discussions and a working lunch in Beijing, echoing comments made on Tuesday by the US leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
"Dialogue is better than confrontation and partnership is better than rivalry," Mr Wen said in his opening remarks.
Mr Obama noted the Sino-US relationship was "now expanding to deal with a whole host of global issues in which US-China cooperation is critical".
They also broached the thorny issue of trade, following tensions over accusations of dumping and other unfair trade practices made by both sides, as well as the value of the Chinese yuan.
"We do not pursue a trade surplus," Mr Wen said, according to a foreign ministry transcript of his comments.
The state Xinhua news agency quoted Mr Obama as saying he "appreciates China's efforts" to expand domestic demand and "reform the renminbi exchange rate regime" - references to US calls for economic rebalancing and a stronger yuan.
Beijing is under mounting pressure to let its currency appreciate, with the United States and Europe complaining the yuan is being kept artificially low to boost Chinese exports by making them more competitive overseas.
Mr Wen called on the United States to "lift its policy of restricting exports of high-tech products to China" and Mr Obama responded that his country was willing to address the issue, according to the foreign ministry. The US President who was accompanied by his secretaries of state, commerce and energy and the country's trade representative and Mr Wen also denounced protectionism, the Chinese side said.
Xinhua said Mr Wen and Mr Obama also touched on climate change and North Korea, where the Chinese premier was told by leader Kim Jong-Il last month that Pyongyang was willing to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
Mr Obama held the bulk of his formal talks on Tuesday with Mr Hu, after which the leaders of the world's number one and three economies said they had agreed to pool their global clout to attack a number of tough issues.
The pair vowed to push for a climate change deal, called on North Korea to return to the six-party talks and emphasised the need to resurrect the global economy from the depths of crisis.
But few concrete agreements emerged from the talks and differences were obvious in the two leaders' statements on Iran, economic issues and Tibet.