AFP, Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that China-US ties would impact the “destiny of mankind”, as he met with a group of American senators in Beijing.

“How China and the United States get along with each other in the face of a world of change and turmoil will determine the future and destiny of mankind,” Xi said as he met Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

Schumer is the latest high-level American official to go to China as Washington seeks to ease tensions with Beijing, leading a six-person delegation.

“I have said many times, including to several presidents, that we have 1,000 reasons to improve China-US relations, but not one reason to ruin them,” Xi said, adding China-US ties are “the most important bilateral relationship in the world”.

Schumer, in turn, told Xi that “our countries, together, will shape this century”.

“That is why we must manage our relationship responsibly and respectfully,” he said.

Earlier China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said he hoped Washington and Beijing could manage their differences “more rationally”.

Meeting with Schumer at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Foreign Minister Wang told the senate delegation he hoped their visit would help the two sides “manage existing differences more rationally, helping the relationship between the two countries return to the track of healthy development”.

Wang also said he hoped they would “more accurately understand China” after the trip, which he said comes as the world is in a “turbulent period of change”.

“The crisis in Ukraine has not yet subsided, and warfare has reemerged in the Middle East,” he said.

“All these various challenges need to be addressed by the international community, and China and the United States should play their due roles,” Wang said.

Schumer, in turn, thanked the Chinese delegation for their hospitality, noting there were several issues of “great concern” he was seeking to raise during his visit.

He said “a level playing field for American business and workers” was his delegation’s “number one goal”.