U.S. and China Should 'Get Along,' Xi Jinping Says

President Xi Jinping called for the return of "sound and steady" U.S.-China relations in a letter delivered to an NGO on Wednesday, his first public message to the Biden administration since he extended his rule over the Communist Party on Sunday.

"The world today is neither tranquil nor stable. China and the United States are two major countries. Closer communication and cooperation between us will help bring greater stability and certainty to the world, and promote world peace and development," Xi told the National Committee on United States–China Relations (NCUSCR).

"China stands ready to work with the United States to find the right way to get along with each other in the new era on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. This will benefit not only our two countries, but also the whole world," the letter said.

The remarks were read by Xu Xueyuan, the chargé d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Washington, at NCUSCR's gala dinner in New York.

China's leader urged the NGO's policy-advising committee to "help bring bilateral relations back to the track of sound and steady development," Xu said.

U.S.-China ties remain at one of their lowest points since formal diplomatic relations were established in 1979. The two countries are at odds over a variety of national interests in the domains of trade and economics, military, cybersecurity, high technology and global governance.

August saw a major bilateral fallout when Beijing responded to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei with intensive military drills around Taiwan. It also suspended a number of cooperation mechanisms with America.

In early October, the Biden administration announced sweeping export controls on China's semiconductor industry, effectively cutting it off from high-end chips and American chip-making know-how, in an escalation of the tech war.

Xi's message on Wednesday was his first to an American audience since the Chinese Communist Party's twice-a-decade national congress concluded on Saturday, after which he emerged with a norm-breaking third five-year term as general secretary and chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.

The seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, was packed with loyal technocrats, who will carry out Xi's political and economic agenda in the years to come. No single individual has wielded as much power over the country since the days of Mao Zedong, observers say.

President Joe Biden also sent a letter to the gala, per tradition. It was delivered by Jacob J. Lew, former U.S. treasury secretary and now NCUSCR chair.

The U.S. would be focused "on responsibly managing the competition between our two countries," Biden's message read.

"The United States will continue to promote our vision of a free, open, secure and prosperous world, invest in boosting American competitiveness globally, and partner with any nation that shares our basic belief that the rules-based order must remain the foundation for global peace and prosperity," the president wrote.

Both Beijing and Washington say they don't want a new Cold War.

At a White House meeting with military leaders on Wednesday, Biden said the U.S. had "a responsibility to manage increasingly intense competition with China."

"We must maintain... our military advantage, but we're making it clear that we don't seek conflict," the president said, adding that Xi was aware of the U.S.'s desire to avert war.

"I told him that we're looking for competition," Biden said. "There'll be stiff competition, but there doesn't need to be conflict. But we are going to compete."