Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) is welcomed by US President Barack Obama (L) at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington DC, the United States, Sept 25, 2015. Xi arrived in Washington, the second stop of his first state visit to the United States, on Thursday after a busy two-and-a-half-day stay in West Coast hub Seattle. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping's visit to the USA last week took place at a time of tension between the two global powers; the Americans do not yet have a clear strategy for building the inexorable rise of China into their long-term perspective, and China is trying to complete her integration into the world's financial systems at a time of some turbulence in her domestic economy.

It was hardly to be expected that the visit could resolve all the core problems within the relationship, but both sides were clearly making their best effort to create a constructive atmosphere in which progress could be made. By spending more time in Seattle than in Washington, President Xi signalled that his visit was to be focussed more on economic cooperation than on a political tussle; this is in keeping with the broad principles of China's diplomacy, to seek for and build on common ground while reserving one's position on the major strategic issues.

Thus the emphasis is on the avoidance of misunderstanding - President Xi, in his first address, emphasized the importance of communication between the two governments, saying "we must read each other's strategic intentions correctly" - and on the building of trust and confidence between the two nations. Although the Sino-U.S. differences regarding the South China Sea were discussed in the private sessions, both sides clearly saw that there was little to be gained by giving undue prominence to this divisive issue.

In this spirit the emergence of an agreement on cybersecurity, a perennial source of mutual irritation, was most welcome. Both sides agreed that neither country's government would conduct cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, and would make joint efforts to agree and promote norms of state behavior in cyberspace, for the benefit of the whole international community.

Another area where cooperation can be of great mutual benefit is in the fight against corruption, which is a deep concern of the Chinese government, and which these days cannot be combated without international support. China and the U.S. agreed to work together on corruption prevention, discovery of corrupt and criminal assets, evidence exchange, attacking multinational bribery, and repatriation of escaped criminals and their assets. The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has launched an international anti-corruption enforcement effort to track down corrupt officials who have sought refuge abroad. China hopes that, on the basis of last week's agreement, the U.S., British, Canadian and Australian governments can be persuaded to assist in this campaign.