Development remains China's first priority: Xi

Development remains the most urgent priority for modern China, President Xi Jinping said at a welcome banquet in Seattle.

China will strive for coordinated development, promote structural adjustment, improve people's well-being and forestall risks, while keeping its economic growth at a medium-high level, said Xi.

The country will stay strongly committed to deepening its reform and opening up, to the rule of law, and to pursuing peaceful development, Xi said at the start of his state visit to the US.

China and the US should push forward the construction of a new model of major-country relations and promote win-win cooperation while managing divergence and cultivating extensive friendship among people of the two nations, said Xi.

The president pledged to build the new model of international relations centered on win-win cooperation with all countries.

President Xi will stay in Seattle for two days before heading for Washington DC. In Seattle, he will visit Boeing, Microsoft and meet with business leaders and a group of US governors.