Economic giants focus on areas for positive action

It was supposed to be a chest-puffing summit between the two biggest economies in the world. Top leaders from China and the United States were slated to hold serious discussions on cybersecurity, climate change and outbound investments.

Instead, at the annual China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington, both nations looked to immediately defuse any tension and nervousness at the outset of the two-day summit, with China taking the lead.

It turns out the summit won't be all about major disagreements.

In a speech on Wednesday, Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang likened the relationship between the two countries as a marriage.

"In China when we say there is a pair of new people, we mean a newlywed couple," said Wang, who was seated next to US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

Wang went on to describe how China and the US must cooperate and build trust like a married couple. Each must respect the other's right to speak. Divorce, he joked, is not an option.

"We cannot have a divorce the way Wendi and Rupert Murdoch just had," Wang said, referring to the high-profile divorce between News Corp chief executive and billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his Chinese-born wife of 14 years, Wendi Deng.

"For that, it would be too big a price to pay."