Visiting US President Barack Obama said in Shanghai on Monday that Washington and Beijing are "positive, constructive, and comprehensive" partners.

He said the "political partnership" between the two in 1979 was based on "sheer rivalry" with the Soviet Union.

But today is it a "positive, constructive, and comprehensive partnership," Obama told an audience of more than 500 local youths, many of whom students from Fudan University and Tongji University.

The ongoing event attracted more than 100 reporters, the large majority of whom from the US and the rest from China.

The meeting on the fourth floor of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum was scheduled to last for 75 minutes, with Obama speaking for 15 minutes and the an hour-long question and answer session.

Before Obama's speech, Jon Huntsman, US ambassador to China, said, "the timing could not be better" for increasing bilateral relations at the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations ties.

Obama met local leaders in the morning. He arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport just after 11 pm last night.

The 48-year-old, the first US president to visit China within the first year of taking office, will fly to Beijing immediately after meeting the youths.

He is expected to arrive in the nation's capital at around 4:30 pm. President Hu Jintao will host a state dinner for Obama at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in the evening.

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