“Even as our nations cooperate, I believe and I know you agree, that we must address our differences candidly”, Obama said at a welcoming ceremony, with Xi standing at his side.
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The president also raised the prospect of sanctions of China, saying the USA would use “tools we have in our tool kit to go after cybercriminals, either retrospectively or prospectively”.
The state dinner will also provide an opportunity for USA and Chinese officials to continue the important discussions that are expected to take place earlier in the day, Kritenbrink said.
Obama will press Xi on China’s economic policy, which has drawn growing USA concern in recent months. “I think we’ve run out of issues in some ways”, Segal said. During a brief photo-op for reporters, one yelled out a question for Obama on House Speaker John A. Boehner’s announcement he will resign next month, but Obama did not answer. He also praised the planned cooperation on climate change.
Today, when President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping meet, both men will be aware of the catastrophic consequences of great-power confrontation. Republicans and climate change deniers have long used China as the counterweight in their arguments, fighting against any restrictive United States policies with the specter of a huge economic power unburdened by controls on emissions, running roughshod over USA industries.
The culmination of all this climate diplomacy is to come in December, when world leaders will gather in Paris for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change and attempt to hammer out a global agreement on emissions reductions.
Chinese President Xi Jinping talked about how the Chinese symbol for the word “people” resembles two sticks supporting each other, in contrast to the cyber attacks from China. They include the theft of private business information and millions of personal records via a hack of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
The two agreed to establish “appropriate norms of state behavior in cyberspace within the worldwide community”, but they did not endorse a July report by the United Nations on that topic.
This time around, such breakthroughs are unlikely, although an agreement on cyber security has not been ruled out. US allies, including Japan and South Korea, describe the emerging military bases as provocations. The loud voices of protesters could be heard in the Rose Garden as Obama and Xi conducted a news conference.
Having conceded that rare honor – China is the only non-democracy whose leaders have been treated to a state visit by his administration – Obama has a more hard task. They revealed the name – in both English and Chinese – by unrolling scrolls tied by ribbons, with help of two school children.
On Friday, Mr Xi – who is making his first state visit to the U.S. – will be hosted at the White House for a banquet, with a 21-gun salute.
READ ALSO: In U.S., Xi says anti-graft fight no “House of Cards” power play China has denied being behind cyberspying in the USA and says that it, too, is a victim of such espionage. Mr. Obama, who has made climate change a signature issue of his presidency, announced the centerpiece of his plan this year.
Both presidents shook hands along the rope line, as children waved USA and Chinese flags.
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Obama and Xi were expected to have discussed security issues during a private dinner Thursday night at the Blair House, a guest residence just a short walk from the White House. Earnest said. “This is something China has been engaged in for quite some time and it has drawn significant rebukes from the administration”. “Following the dinner, the President and the First Lady will attend the State Dinner reception with President Xi and Madame Peng Liyuan in the State Dining Room”.
