China pledges $3 bn to fight climate change

Xi, on his first state visit to the US, will be hosted at the White House for a banquet on Friday. “I indicated that it has to stop”, Obama said. But he added warily: “The question now is, are words followed by actions?”

The deals require captains of naval vessels to ensure prompt communication, to make their intentions clear, to maintain a safe distance and to avoid “uncivil language” or “unfriendly physical gestures” to head off collisions that could mushroom into national security standoffs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) says China and the USA need to be frank about their disagreements in order to improve trust and understanding between the world’s two largest economies.

Xi said China has more than 600 million Internet users.

Compiling a photo gallery of Obama’s past fashion choices at state dinners, The New York Times noted that Obama made it a point to don gowns by designers whose “backgrounds and cultures reflect the countries being honoured”.

Despite the lingering friction, analysts said the agreement was a significant advance.

The red carpet and full ceremonial honors that welcomed Xi to the White House underlined the importance of the great powers’ relationship, but the leaders made no effort to hide the differences between them.

This post originally appeared on Business Insider.

Mr Xi used the occasion to announce China will launch a national carbon cap-and- trade system in 2017 to help contain the country’s emissions.

China’s economy has soared over the past 15 years to become the world’s second largest after the United States, although concerns have been rising in recent months over the country’s financial markets and long-term growth.

For Obama, the deal with China strengthens his hand ahead of a global summit on climate change in Paris in December.

Like the president and others, he said the key will be how well the agreement is implemented.

The two leaders also reiterated their governments’ opposition to North Korea’s nuclear program, demanding that Pyongyang submit to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and declaring. The two also completed new military annexes on air-to-air military manoeuvres and crisis communication, expected to avert unsafe and risky passage by aircraft of the two countries near each other following an incident last week over South China Sea.

Many in Beijing, meanwhile, suspect Obama’s “rebalancing” of United States power toward Asia and a vast pan-Pacific trade pact excluding China are no more than a bid to contain their civilization’s rightful rise, despite the President’s repeated denials. “We have the right to uphold our own territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime rights and interests”, Xi said after a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama. Chinas pledge to help crack down on hackers who steal commercial secrets from the United States, even coming as it did amid a bit of arm-twisting by Obama, is a big breakthrough that could reduce U.S.-China tensions and end huge losses for American companies.

The way China is being portrayed as a villain in the 2016 election is narrowing Obama’s room for maneuver and may force him to take a firmer line toward Beijing.

Sharing his view on the post-2015 development agenda, Xi called for an equitable, open, all-round and innovation-driven development path, stressing that no country should be left behind. Guests dined on wild mushroom soup, poached Maine lobster, grilled cannon of Colorado lamb and poppyseed bread and butter pudding.

Despite the ceremonial honours, the Chinese Communist leader, who came to Washington on the heels of Pope Francis, received nothing like the wall-to-wall USA news coverage given the popular pontiff, who drew adoring crowds wherever he went.