General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping (R) meets with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 13, 2012. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)

Xi Jinping, the new helmsman of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), on Thursday called for more "positive energy" for the China-U.S. partnership.

He made the remarks while meeting with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Both China and the United States should be innovative and make efforts to accumulate "positive energy" to build a China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. They should also create a new type of bilateral ties between major powers, regardless of difficulties, said Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

"Positive energy" is a term popularly used on the Chinese cyberspace to refer to "giving an impetus to something."

Carter is in Beijing as a guest of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Xi persues better ties between China, US

Party chief Xi Jinping called on China and the United States to "defy hardship" and "accumulate positive energy" in developing their ties, as he met with former US president Jimmy Carter on Thursday in Beijing.

China, US hold wide-ranging defense talks
 
China and the United States have held wide-ranging talks on defense and security at the 13th annual China-US Defense Consultative Talks in the Pentagon.