U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a keynote speech at the 2014 APEC CEO Summit in Beijing on November 10 (LUO XIAOGUANG)

U.S. President Barack Obama said closer ties between China and the United States could lead to more jobs and benefit the world in his speech at the 2014 APEC CEO Summit in Beijing on November 10.

"We welcome the rise of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China," Obama said.

"We compete for business, but we also seek to cooperate on a broad range of shared challenges and share opportunities," he said, noting that the two countries "have a special responsibility to embrace" in stopping the spread of Ebola, preventing nuclear proliferation, deepening their clean energy partnership and combating climate change.

"If China and the United States can work together, the world benefits," Obama said.

He also said the two nations should continue to strengthen bilateral trade and investment. China is the United States' fastest-growing export market. Chinese direct investment in the United States has risen six-fold over the past five years. Chinese firms directly employ a rapidly growing number of Americans.

"All these things mean jobs for the American people, and deepening these ties will mean more job opportunities for both our peoples," Obama said.

He then announced that China and the United States have agreed to implement a new arrangement for visas: student visas will be extended to five years and business and tourist visas will be extended to 10 years. Currently, visas between the two countries last for only one year.

Last year, 1.8 million Chinese visitors to the United States contributed $21 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 100,000 American jobs, according to the U.S. president. "This agreement could help us more than quadruple those numbers."