By Qinhao Mei | November 11, 2014, Tuesday

UNITED States President Barack Obama yesterday announced a deal to extend Chinese students visas to the US from one year to five years, and visitors or business trip to the US for up to a decade, insisting he wants China"to do well"despite simmering tensions between the world's two largest economies.

"The United States welcomes the rise of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China," Obama said in a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.
As the world's two largest economies, the US and China"have special responsibilities to embrace,"Obama said.

"If China and the United States can work together, the world benefits."Enhancing China's integration to the world economy is in "US best interest and the world's best interest," he said.

"We want China to do well. We compete for business, but we also cooperate on a broad range of shared challenges and shared opportunities,"Obama said in reference to the fight against Ebola, stopping nuclear proliferation, deepening clean energy partnerships and combating climate change.

The consular deal for both countries' citizens will see student visas extended to five years, with the validity of business and tourist visas stretched to a decade, from a year now.

About 1.8 million Chinese visited the US last year, Obama said, contributing US$21 billion to the economy and supporting more than 100,000 jobs for the Americans.

"This agreement could help us more than quadruple those numbers," Obama said, describing it as an "important breakthrough which will benefit our economies, bring our people together."

"I'm pleased that President Xi has been a partner in getting this done," he said.
China sends nearly 100 million tourists abroad annually and represents a growing and increasingly coveted source of high-spending visitors in destination countries.

A senior US official called the agreement "a really big win" and "a really big deal for the US economy."

Obama arrived in China yesterday for a weeklong trip.