President Barack Obama said today Washington was not trying to contain China's rise but said trade between the two giants needed to be more balanced.
Addressing students at a town hall-style meeting in Shanghai on the first full day of his first trip to China, Mr Obama said the notion that Washington and Beijing must be adversaries was not pre-destined.
Mr Obama faces tensions with China over trade and Tibet on his visit to the emerging superpower for a summit that will grapple with economic imbalances and the future of the yuan currency. He arrived in Shanghai, China's commercial hub, late yesterday.
"We do not seek to contain China's rise," Mr Obama said before taking questions from the audience as well as from Chinese people over the internet.
"On the contrary we welcome China as a strong and prosperous and successful member of the community of nations - a China that draws on the right strengths and creativity of individual Chinese."
"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation but we also don't believe the principals we stand for are unique to our nation."
Chinese state-run internet sites have asked the public for questions to question Mr Obama at the youth meeting, and many had urged him to explain if he plans to meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom Beijing brands a separatist.
These events will be a warm-up for Mr Obama's summit with President Hu Jintao in the capital tomorrow that will cover trouble-spots such as North Korea and Iran, and efforts to forge a new climate pact.
Mr Obama has said he will also raise the sensitive subjects of human rights, and sometimes tense trade ties and China's yuan currency, seen by US industry as significantly undervalued and stoking unsustainable global economic imbalances.
Mr Obama noted that in 1979, when Washington established ties with the People's Republic of China, trade was worth several billion dollars, compared to more than $400 billion now.
"This trade could create even more jobs on both sides of the Pacific . . . as demands becomes more balanced it can lead to even more prosperity," Mr Obama said.
At a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Singapore over the weekend, Mr Hu ignored international calls for his government to raise the value of the yuan and make Chinese exports relatively more expensive, however.
Reuters