Against the backdrop of United States finalising dates for US President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama after ignoring Beijing's concerns, America has said its relationship with China is a matured one with both the nations committed to work together despite their differences.
"We think we have a mature enough relationship with the Chinese that we can agree on issues that are of mutual interest, but we also have a mature enough relationship that we know that two countries on this planet are not always going to agree on everything and we'll have those disagreements," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Obama had detailed discussion with the Chinese leadership when he visited Beijing in November. "We talked to the Chinese about their currency in Beijing; we talked to the Chinese about the Dalai Lama in Beijing; we talked about internet access and Internet freedom with the Chinese both in Shanghai during the town hall meeting and in Beijing," Gibbs said.
The White House spokesman exuded confidence that China would support US on its move to impose additional sanctions on Iran. Obama will meet the Tibetan spiritual leader at the White House on February 18.
"We believe that the Chinese have and will continue to play a constructive role. They worked with us, again, very constructively on the United Nations resolutions dealing with North Korea, and we believe, and I think they believe it's not in their interest to have a worldwide arms race; it's certainly not in their interest economically to have an arms race in the Middle East," Gibbs said.
The process at the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran has already started, he said. "We are working through with them, with our other partners in the P5-plus-1. This will go through a process at the UN," Gibbs said.
"Well, again, the process of writing this and devising these has already started," he added.
