Obama, Xi vow to work closely

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday to co-operate to confront the North Korean nuclear threat while working to narrow persistent differences over cybersecurity, human rights and maritime conflicts.

Obama, opening a global nuclear security summit near the White House, also joined leaders of Japan and South Korea in calling for further joint steps to deter North Korea.

 The display of diplomatic unity came as world leaders sought to ramp up pressure on the insular country's government following worrisome nuclear provocations.

"President Xi and I are both committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," Obama said as he and Xi sat down for a meeting on the sidelines of the summit.

"We're going to discuss how we can discourage actions like nuclear missile tests that escalate tensions and violate international obligations."


The US has long urged China, the North's traditional ally, to take a more forceful role in pressing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme. The Obama administration was encouraged by China's role in passing new stringent UN sanctions punishing the North, and was urging Beijing to implement those sanctions dutifully.

Yet in a nod to deep tensions between the US and China, Obama said he planned to raise thornier issues during their meeting as well - including the disputed South China Sea, where China is asserting territorial claims despite competing claims by its neighbours.

Parroting careful diplomatic language long-preferred by Beijing, Obama said the US welcomes China's peaceful rise to prosperity. "I very much appreciate President Xi's willingness to have conversations on these issues in a constructive way," Obama said.

Xi, addressing reporters through a translator, said the two economic powers would keep deepening ties on trade, law enforcement and climate change. He said the US and China must work together promote peace in light of the rising global terror threat.

"China and the US have a responsibility to work together," Xi said. As for their "disputes and disagreements," the Chinese leader said the two sides could "seek active solutions through dialogue and consultation."

Long at odds over human rights, the US and China in recent years have sparred regularly over China's move to building artificial islands and military facilities in the disputed South China Sea.

Japan and South Korea are similarly alarmed about China's territorial designs on the East China Sea.