During a closed-door meeting at the White House with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the US and Iran to return to dialogue to end their war, as Trump hailed the meeting as "great".
China has "always maintained that the sovereignty and security of all countries should be respected" and has played a constructive role in easing tensions and encouraging negotiations, Xi said on Thursday, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
He expressed China’s support for the US and Iran returning to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and voiced hope that both sides would return as soon as possible to resolve their differences through negotiations, reach a comprehensive agreement, including on the nuclear issue, and achieve peace.
After the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, Pakistan helped secure a ceasefire on April 8 and later hosted more than 20 hours of talks between American and Iranian officials in Islamabad.
Following weeks of mediation, Pakistan and Qatar helped secure the June 18 deal, which provided the two sides with a framework and 60 days to negotiate a longer-term agreement aimed at ending the war.
However, the two sides soon resumed retaliatory strikes, with tensions continuing.
Xi also urged the US to “adhere to the correct position of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’” and handle the Taiwan question “prudently” to lay a solid foundation for bilateral strategic cooperation and relations.
Beijing’s position on safeguarding its national unity and territorial integrity is “crystal clear", he said.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province, while Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.
Xi also said that building a constructive China-US relationship based on strategic stability is not an expedient measure nor something that can be achieved overnight, additionally calling for translating the new vision of a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability into action.
‘Great meeting’
Trump said he and Xi had a "great meeting".
Trump made the comments to reporters in response to shouted questions before the two boarded the Marine One helicopter on the White House grounds for a brief tour.
Trump also said Xi “has great interest in granite. He likes granite.”
“He’s an expert on stone aside from many other things. And he loves good granite,” he added.
The Chinese president left the White House after the bilateral talks but was expected to return later with his wife, Peng Liyuan, for a state dinner.
Meanwhile, First Lady Melania Trump took Peng on a tour of the National Museum of Asian Art while Trump and Xi held talks.
Xi arrived Wednesday for a three-day state visit to the US, his first in more than a decade.
He is the first Chinese leader to make two state visits to the US since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1979.
Then-US President Barack Obama hosted Xi for his first state visit in 2015.
Xi’s current visit comes after he hosted Trump for a state visit in May, when the two sides agreed on a “new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability".
