SEATTLE, United States -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday toured the headquarters of Microsoft Corporation and encouraged the multinational company to deepen cooperation with Chinese partners.

He also met with participants in the eighth China-US Internet forum, and called for a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyber space and closer bilateral cooperation in the sphere.

When they arrived at Microsoft's Redmond campus, Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan were greeted by CEO Satya Nadella, founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, as well as Board Chairman John W. Thompson.

Xi noted that since Microsoft officially started operating in China in 1995, its bushiness in the country has expanded rapidly, which promoted the development of China's information technology industry.

As innovation in science and technology has become a robust impetus for China's economic growth, tremendous business opportunities are emerging for Microsoft and other US tech firms, Xi added, stressing that China will stick to its reform and opening-up policy and continue to welcome foreign companies to do business in China.

In the Microsoft Envisioning Center, the first couple watched the demonstration of a series of high-tech products, including Microsoft HoloLens, a world-leading holographic computer; a real-time meteorological data visualization system; and ecosystem hardware made by Chinese engineers using Microsoft technology.

The Chinese president expressed the hope that Microsoft will deepen cooperation with its Chinese partners and bring more convenience and efficiency to modern life by inventing more smart products.

During the visit, Microsoft presented Xi with a gift -- a 3D-printed model of the Liulinhai, the first Chinese vessel to arrive in the United States after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It called at the Seattle port in 1979, the year China and the United States officially established diplomatic relations.

Xi offered a dawn redwood tree as a gift for the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a new partnership between Tsinghua University and Washington University with foundational support from Microsoft. The tree will be planted at the new GIX facility when it is completed.

CHINA-US CYBER COOPERATION

In his meeting with the Internet forum participants, the Chinese president noted that with the rapid development of information technology, the Internet plays an increasingly important role in the peace and development of individual countries and the world.

Therefore, he pointed out, how to govern and make better use of the cyber space has become a big question all countries care about and are studying.

China advocates the building of a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyber space and maintains that every country should institute its own Internet policy in line with its own national conditions, Xi said.

Noting that both China and the United States are major countries in the Internet sphere, where they have important common interests and room for cooperation, he suggested that the two countries carry out constructive talks on cyber issues on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

In so doing, he added, the two sides can create a new bright spot in bilateral cooperation and enable the cyber space to bring more benefits to the two nations and the people across the world.

Seattle is the first leg of Xi's first state visit to the United States. He will leave on Thursday for Washington D.C., where he will meet with US President Barack Obama.