Beijing: Setting the tone for US President Barack Obama's November visit to Beijing, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said that the President's Beijing trip will be an "important milestone" that will further deepen US-China ties.
As a part of the preparations for Obama's China visit, Susan Rice met Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, Chinese ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai and other officials on Monday.
Susan, who is in Beijing on a three-day trip, said Obama had sent her to Beijing “because of the priority he attaches to US-China relations.”
Susan had conveyed this message before setting out on China visit, tweeting how the US and China needed to work together to solve the problems of 21st century.
Most major global challenges of 21st century cannot be addressed effectively without U.S. and China working together
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) September 7, 2014
Susan's visit also comes at a time when the US-China ties recently weathered bilateral challenges such as a recent close-encounter between their air force planes over the South China Sea.
Rice said that among all the other issues facing the United States, Obama still considered China to be a priority and that her primary reason for coming to Beijing was to hammer out the agenda for the November meeting between Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Having this kind of high-level continuing dialogue is helpful to enable us to sustain and to deepen the type of productive relations and good work that’s necessary for US interests, for China’s interests, and for the interests of the global community,” she said.
Rice is scheduled to meet Tuesday with China's defense and foreign ministers before departing Wednesday.
