U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that it is in the interest of the United States to cooperate with China on issues such as climate change.

Blinken made the remark during a press briefing on his first full day in office.

"It's not a secret that the relationship between the United States and China is arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world going forward," Blinken told reporters.

"It's going to shape a lot of the future that – that we all live, and increasingly that relationship has some adversarial aspects to it. It has competitive ones. And it also still has cooperative ones," he said, adding that tackling climate change was in the interest of both countries.

And in areas where the two countries can cooperate, "I think, and hope, that we'll be able to pursue that, but that fits within the larger context of our foreign policy and of many issues of concern that we have with China, issues that we need to work through."

(Cover: Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses reporters during his first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 27, 2021. /Reuters)