WASHINGTON - The upcoming summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama is "a strategic and historic meeting" that will set the course for future development of bilateral ties, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said Wednesday.

In an interview with Washington-based Chinese media outlets, Cui noted that the summit, to be held on June 7-8 at the Sunnylands estate, California, will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the leadership transitions in both countries.

The two leaders will hold in-depth discussions on major issues concerning future development of the bilateral ties with an eye on building a new type of great-power relationship, Cui said.

Due to the dramatic, profound and complex changes undergoing in today's human society and the international architecture, there is an unprecedented level of interdependence and convergence of interests among countries as they are engaged in closer communications than before as a result of globalization and informatization, he noted.

China, the biggest developing country, and the United States, the biggest developed country, share increasingly common interests and larger space for cooperation in maintaining world peace and stability as well as promoting human development, the Chinese envoy said.

Cui saluted the great achievements in the development of the China-US relationship since they established diplomatic ties in 1979, which were demonstrated in the increasingly frequent exchanges at different levels and expanded cooperation in varied spheres.

Now there is more support among the two peoples and a firmer basis for further developing the bilateral relationship, and the two sides were able to effectively manage and handle their disputes while focusing on common interests, said the veteran Chinese diplomat.

The future direction of the China-US relationship will affect not only the interests of both countries, but also peace, stability and development of the Asia Pacific and the world as a whole. So the two sides should work to open up a new path of building a new type of future-oriented great-power relationship that is based on the fundamental interests of both peoples and the international community.

The characteristics of such a relationship should include equality, mutual trust, mutual accommodation, mutual learning, cooperation toward win-win results, so that it can ensure healthy, steady and long-term development of the bilateral ties, Cui said.

The joint endeavor by the two countries, which is unprecedented in human history, will lead the China-US relationship into a new period and usher in a new chapter of developing international relations, he said.

Cui proposed that, in the next phase, China and the US should make joint efforts to deepen mutual understanding, enhance mutual trust, promote cooperation in order to achieve more tangible results in building a new type of great-power relationship.

On the Xi-Obama summit, Cui said China expects it to produce positive results that will charter a clear course for future development of the bilateral ties, so as to better benefit both peoples and the world at large.