Economic links could help build China-US trust

China and the US should start work on a global governance framework that helps coordinate key decision making such as monetary policy as part of the next stage in relationship building between the world's two largest economies.

That was one suggestion put forward by prominent economists at yesterday's China-US Exchange Foundation, where Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui also called for mutual respect when resolving issues between the two powers.

"There have been long-running structural problems and new issues that arise along the way. The lack of mutual trust is a very realistic problem," Zhang said in a speech during the foundation's first formal annual conference.

He said that President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama had spent a total of 10 hours exchanging views at the recent Apec summit in Beijing, an indicator of how highly both value the relationship.

Zhang added it was important that the powers adopt the "new type of major power relations", a concept first raised by Xi in 2013 during a summit with Obama.

The US leader has been reluctant to embrace the idea because of its ambiguity.