President Barack Obama and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday emphasized the desire of both sides to build a positive and constructive relationship between the two countries, the White House said in a press release.

"During today's meeting, President Obama and Foreign Minister Yang discussed the overall state of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, emphasizing the desire of both sides to strengthen cooperation and build a positive and constructive U.S.-China relationship," the press release said.

The two also discussed important global issues, including international financial crisis, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the situation in Sudan, the release said.

The president also stressed the importance of raising the level and frequency of the U.S.-China military-to-military dialogue in order to avoid future incidents, it added.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the White House, Washington, the United States, on March 12, 2009. [Xinhua]

On international financial crisis, according to the readout, the two agreed that China and the United States must work closely and urgently, as two of the world's leading economies, to stabilize the global economy by stimulating demand at home and abroad, and get credit markets flowing.

On the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, President Obama expressed appreciation for the important role China has played as the chair of the Six-Party talks. He said the U.S. side will continue to work with China and other partners in the Six-Party process to "verifiably eliminate" the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The two also discussed other issues such as human rights, according to the release.

The meeting, which was believed to begin at around 2:30 p.m. local time, lasted longer than expected. U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Presidential National Security Adviser James Jones also took part in the meeting.

Minister Yang, who is here on a five-day working visit as guest of Clinton, held talks with the secretary of state and Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner separately on Wednesday and reached with them a wide range of consensus on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual concern.

U.S. President Barack Obama (5th R) meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (5th L) at the White House, Washington, the United States, on March 12, 2009. [Xinhua]

The Chinese minister also held talks with National Security Adviser Jones prior to his meeting with President Obama.

The most important purpose of his visit, according to Yang, is to make preparations for the meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Obama in London in early April. This will be the first summit between heads of state of the two countries since the new U.S. administration came into office in January.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2009)