BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- In a meeting closely watched by the world, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday agreed on a new vision of building a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability.

The new vision will provide strategic guidance for China-U.S. relations over the next three years and beyond, Xi said when holding talks in Beijing with Trump, who is on a three-day state visit to China -- the first such visit in the past nine years.

Xi defined the nature of "constructive strategic stability" as a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences, and an enduring stability with promises of peace.

Trump said he will work with Xi to strengthen communication and cooperation, properly handle differences, and make bilateral relations better than ever before.

Both leaders agreed that China-U.S. relations are the most important bilateral relationship in the world today.

"Looking back at the course of China-U.S. relations, whether or not we could have mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation is the key to whether the relationship can advance steadily," Xi said at Thursday's welcome banquet for Trump.

"We must make it work, and never mess it up," Xi said, adding that both China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.

NEW IMPETUS FOR COOPERATION

During the two leaders' formal talks, Xi spoke of the latest round of trade talks between Chinese and U.S. officials, lauding the "generally balanced and positive outcomes."

"This is good news for the people of the two countries and the world," he said, calling on the two sides to sustain the good momentum that they have worked hard to create.

The Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that China is ready to work with the United States to continuously expand the list of cooperation and shorten the list of problems.

In the current trip, Trump is accompanied by top U.S. executives, including Apple's Tim Cook, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Tesla's Elon Musk, whom he called outstanding representatives from the U.S. business community.

"They all respect and value China. I strongly encourage them to expand cooperation with China," Trump said. The business leaders said that the successful meeting between Xi and Trump has injected new impetus into bilateral economic and trade cooperation and provided certainty for the world economy.

"China will only open its door wider," Xi said. American companies are deeply involved in China's reform and opening up, and the U.S. side is welcome to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with China, he added.

VIBES OF FRIENDSHIP AND RESPECT

Prior to Thursday's talks, Xi hosted a welcome ceremony for Trump outside the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, featuring military band performances, a 21-gun salute and a march-past of the guard of honor.

Trump said that it was a great honor to visit China, hailing the very good relationship between the two countries.

Trump said he and Xi have enjoyed friendly communication and worked out many important issues, calling Xi "a great leader" and China "a great country," and expressing tremendous respect for Xi and the Chinese people.

After the talks, the two leaders visited the Temple of Heaven. Impressed by the more than 600-year-old UNESCO World Heritage Site, Trump said that as great nations with wise and great peoples, the United States and China should deepen mutual understanding and strengthen friendship between their peoples.

Addressing the welcome banquet, Xi recalled the China-U.S. Ping-Pong Diplomacy 55 years ago. Active engagement between the two sides has continued to serve as an important driving force behind the development of bilateral relations. "President Trump and I have had multiple meetings and phone calls and kept China-U.S. relations generally stable," Xi said.

Trump thanked Xi for the gracious reception and hailed the positive and constructive conversations between the two sides. "Today is a fantastic day," he said.

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR BILATERAL RELATIONS AND HUMANITY

During their talks, the two presidents also exchanged views on major international and regional issues, such as the Middle East situation, the Ukraine crisis, and the Korean Peninsula situation.

Chinese geopolitical experts say that if the proposed constructive relationship of strategic stability can be established and well-preserved, China and the United States will surely contribute a lot to global peace and development for quite a long period to come.

Now it's up to the United States to work with China in the same direction, given Beijing's consistent and clear policy on China-U.S. relations, said Diao Daming, vice dean of the National Academy of Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China.

Xi has stressed that the building of such a relationship should not be a mere slogan, but concrete action taken by both sides toward the same goal.

Placing emphasis on the Taiwan question, Xi described it as the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.

If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy, Xi told his American counterpart.