Remarks by President Obama and President Hu of China Before Expanded Bilateral Meeting

Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China

11:23 A.M. CST

PRESIDENT HU: (As translated.)  Mr. President, I'm very happy to have talks with you.  This is your first state visit to China.  To begin with, please allow me to extend on behalf of the Chinese government and of the Chinese people and in my own name, a warm welcome to you, Mr. President, and all the delegates of your delegation.

Just now we already had good talks in the smaller group meeting and we reached agreement in many important fields.  I'm now willing to have a in-depth exchange of views with you, Mr. President, at this expanded meeting on the bilateral relationship and on major regional and international issues.

As you are our distinguished guest from afar, I would like to hand over the microphone to you first.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, thank you very much once again, Mr. President, for your extraordinary hospitality.  I can tell you that both my delegation as well as myself, we have had an excellent visit so far.  And I thought that the discussions that we just had in the smaller meeting were very constructive.

As we both affirmed, the United States and China have a great many mutual interests.  And after 30 years of bilateral relations, I think it's fair to say that our two governments have continued to move forward in a way that can bring even greater cooperation in the future.

And I want to reaffirm the fact that the American people are interested in stronger relations with the people of China, and that the more that we can encourage people-to-people exchanges that are consistent with the discussions that we're having at the government level, the more that China and the United States will be able to work cooperatively on a whole range of issues -- both economic issues, security issues, and global issues that are in the interest not just of our two nations but the entire world.

So, once again, thank you for being such an excellent host, and I look forward to the expanded discussion.

END               

11:28 A.M. CST