Barack Obama, Xi Jinping look to restore momentum in Sino-US ties

More than a year after they spent a day in talks at the Sunnylands retreat in California, President Xi Jinping will reciprocate by hosting his US counterpart, Barack Obama, in Beijing next Wednesday.

While that summit failed to forestall a rise in tensions between the two powers in the following 18 months, analysts said next week's meeting could at least help restore some of the momentum in bilateral relations. But continuing mutual mistrust and policy inconsistencies sides would were likely to cast a pall over ties, they said.

The two leaders are expected to discuss cooperation on issues such as counterterrorism - in particular the campaign against Islamic State - containing the Ebola outbreak and climate change. Xi is also likely to use the occasion to try to move his concept of a "new type of great power relationship" forward.

While bilateral ties have been suffering due to disputes over cyberespionage, freedom of navigation of the seas and the air and the competition for regional influence, both sides have placed high hopes on the meeting.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that the US and China should work together to confront the threat of climate change and other challenges, emphasising the two nations' potential for cooperation rather than competition.

Kerry said the US was "clear-eyed about the fact that the United States and China are markedly different countries", but added that it was essential for the two nations to collaborate.

Cui Tiankai , China's envoy to Washington, echoed those thoughts.