Treasury’s Lew stresses shared interest with China

BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has stressed China’s and America’s shared interest in ensuring global economic growth in a meeting with new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Lew met with Li inside Beijing’s Zhongnanhai leadership compound on the second day of a visit marking a re-engagement between the sides. There had been a months-long pause in exchanges while President Barack Obama was re-elected and China completed a lengthy transition to a new generation of leaders.

Despite frictions over North Korea, computer hacking and human rights, both sides have sounded positive notes during Lew’s visit, while stressing their mutual interests as the world’s first- and second-largest economies.

Li told Lew his visit would further “understanding, communication and trust” between the sides. Lew met Tuesday with newly appointed Chinese President Xi Jinping.