Xi Calls for Healthy Competition as China and US Seek Path to Get Along

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China and the United States should pursue healthy competition, steer clear of confrontation and work together to find the right way to get along.

Speaking at a grand welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Xi called on both sides to step up communication, cooperate in good faith and strive for peaceful coexistence.

He said the two major countries both stand to gain from cooperation and would lose from confrontation. Competition need not be avoided, he added, but it should remain healthy and stay within bounds — a race of catching up with one another rather than a wrestle in which one side either wins or loses.

Xi said China and the United States must hold the line of no conflict and no confrontation, expressing confidence that the two great countries can find the right path to get along on the planet they both call home.

Xi is on a state visit to the United States from Wednesday to Friday at Trump's invitation. It is his second state visit to the country, following his first in 2015, and comes after Xi hosted Trump in Beijing in May.