President Xi Jinping warned on Monday that China’s disagreements with the US could not all be solved through dialogue, as his government’s final cabinet-level meeting with the Obama administration kicked off in Beijing.

“Some differences can be solved through hard work,” Mr Xi said at the annual Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue. “Some differences cannot be solved at the moment,” he added, while acknowledging the need for more communication between the two sides. “As the world’s largest developing country and largest developed country, we must increase our co-ordination on macroeconomic policy.”

John Kerry, US secretary of state, noted the two sides’ previous agreements on climate change and emphasised that the US wanted to see a “peaceful resolution” to China’s various territorial disputes with its neighbours in the South and East China seas.