President Obama and president Xi begin two day summit in California

Under president Barack Obama and president Xi Jinping, the nations of America and China are beginning to change their relations to one another pledging a new model of “bilateral ties”.

On Friday the two leaders began a two-day series of talks in Sunnylands estate, California, designed to increase the dialogue between the nations and bring an informality in higher strategic levels in Washington and Beijing.

The talks have already been dubbed the Shirtsleeves Summits due to their lack of conventional formalities between the first and second biggest international economies.

The new model of relations will increase the communication and dialogue in a difficult and complex relationship that many believe is in need of less script and more warmth. President Obama has said that the US “will be taking steps to regularise and institutionalise such discussions.”

Summit meetings will take place in informal dress code and impromptu conversation around key issues within the relationship will be discussed. Obama will be talking around issues such as US – Chinese cyber security protocols as well as political pressures relating to North Korea, while Xi Jinping will discuss Chinese foreign investment inside of the US and increasing military activity surrounding China.

In his opening remarks Xi said that the talks would give a chance to “chart the future” of international Chinese-US relations and that “relations between our two countries are at a new historical starting point.”

Obama called the talks a “more extended and more informal conversation in which we are able to share our visions for our respective countries and forge co-operation based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

So far the duo have delved into deep issues such as the growing tension surrounding increasing revelations of Chinese security breaches of US companies and military data. President Obama stated after two hours that there had been an agreement to work together to tackle cyber-security issues between the states.

Ken Lieberthal, a former Asia director of the National Security Council, said: “one test will be whether we are able to have a serious discussion about North Korea.”

Patrick Corby