THE HAGUE - China is willing to work with the United States to keep the two nations on the right path towards building a new type of major-country relations, said Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday.

The Chinese leader made the remarks while meeting with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, ahead of a nuclear security summit. It is the first meeting between the two presidents this year.

Xi said that he appreciated a similar commitment from the US side in a letter he had received recently from Obama.

The Chinese leader added that he agreed with what Obama said in the letter that China-U.S. cooperation is beneficial for the two countries to promote shared interests and deal with common challenges.

Beijing will also join Washington in handling bilateral ties based on such principles as non-confrontational actions, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation, Xi said.

Xi arrived in the Netherlands Saturday for a state visit, the first one ever made by a Chinese president to the western European country since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1972.

The Netherlands is the first leg of Xi's Europe tour, which will also take him to France, Germany and Belgium.