The head of China's trade delegation, Vice Premier Liu He, says increasing imports from the US and other parts of the world will support economic development. Quan Chenchen has more.

President Xi Jinping's special envoy, Vice Premier Liu He, says this has been a positive, pragmatic, constructive and productive visit. He says the meetings implemented a consensus reached previously by the two countries' heads of state, and helped reassure the two peoples and the international community.

Liu added measures being discussed would help both countries, boosting China's economy while reducing the trade deficit.

LIU HE CHINESE VICE PREMIER "This round of talks has been pragmatic, fruitful and efficient. We reached many agreements. We agreed on mainly two areas. One is trade, the other is structural issues. We resolved some of our misunderstandings from the past. These meetings will not just help bilateral economic and trade relations and build overall ties. They are good for the people of both countries. They also send a positive signal to the whole world."

He said China will enhance trade cooperation with the US in areas like energy, agriculture, healthcare, high-tech products and finance.

The two sides agreed to work together on protecting intellectual property, which they said would benefit each other and help maintain stability and prosperity in global trade.

Liu says China has a large middle-class group and is fast-becoming the world's largest market. The country has been working to increase imports to meet domestic demand and support high-quality development.

LIU HE CHINESE VICE PREMIER "The strongest demand from both the Chinese side and the US side is to stop the trade war, and stop imposing more tariffs on each other's products. This time, both sides pledged to stop the trade war and develop good relations, be it in trade or in investment. I think this is a major demand from both countries. "

The world's second-largest economy plans to increase imports from the US and the rest of the world. The inaugural 2018 China international Import Expo in Shanghai in November is a major move. At the Bo'ao Forum for Asia this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed four areas for more opening up.

LIU HE CHINESE VICE PREMIER "We are expanding our domestic market and increasing imports because we want to serve the needs of our people, our economy and our growth. Expanding the domestic market and furthering opening up will help our reform and growth. Speeding up reform and growth by means of opening up is a very important national strategy. It worked for China for the past 40 years, and we will continue down that path. Exporting to China or making China buy more - one must make the Chinese consumers happy. If you are selling stuff the Chinese people are not interested in buying, no matter how hard you demand, it's just not going to work."

Liu He welcomed the agreements reached during these talks, but he warned it would take time to resolve the structural problems in the economic and trade relations between the two countries. He said the healthy development of China-US economic and trade relations is in line with the historical trend. The new complications and new contradictions that may be encountered in the future must be handled with caution and calmness.