Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday their two countries would work to strengthen ties, as they met in Beijing.

Xi stressed that he and Trump had resolved in a phone call last month "that we need to make joint efforts to advance China-US cooperation and we believe that we can make sure the relationship will move ahead in a constructive fashion in the new era".

He added: "I'm confident that as long as we can do this the relationship can surely move in the right direction."