Hundreds of international journalists covered the summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama on Friday at the White House, and many of them described the meeting as an open and momentous talk for building a peaceful, stable and prosperous world.

I watched the live broadcast from the White House to get every detail of what both presidents said on China-US relations and global challenges. Some foreign journalists stationed in the US capital also were in the audience.

Pat Reber, a senior editor at the German Press Agency, wrote about climate-change plans put forward by China and the US, the world's two biggest carbon emitters.

Her colleague, Anne Walters, followed the Chinese and American first ladies Peng Liyuan and Michelle Obama, who visited the National Zoo that now houses two giant panda cubs, one 2 years old and another just a month old.

Sharon Shaw with the European Pressphoto Agency said Xi's visit was "an eye-catching event", and all the stakeholders had ordered photos from her. The agency transferred some photographers from Atlanta to help with the workload.

In the National Press Building, where foreign media offices are located, journalists covering the event were busily trying to meet their deadlines on Friday afternoon.

Japanese media were reluctant to give their opinions on the summit partly due to the sensitive issue of maritime rights and disputes between China, Japan and other Southeast Asian nations.

Other media such as the Korean Broadcasting System were more willing to comment on the summit.