New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged to cut red tape and forge “a new type of relationship” with the US, in a news conference Sunday, according to the media outlet RT. He spoke after the country’s legislature approved his new cabinet, completing a once-a-decade transition of power.
 

"Our government will work with the Obama administration to build a new type of relationship between great countries," Li, who holds the second-highest position of power in China after Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, told reporters on Sunday as he detailed the new government’s plans.
 

He also condemned confrontation, particularly in cyberspace.
 

Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham, said the words of the new premiere should be taken with a grain of salt, as the ties between Beijing and Washington are unlikely to undergo any profound shifts.
 

“The relationship between China and the United States is probably the single most important relationship in the world today. They are friends and yet they are competitors. That is not going to change as a result of a change of leadership in China or in Washington,” he told RT.