Sit-Down

President Obama met today in the Oval Office with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to smooth relations following Sunday's testy encounter in the South China Sea between the U.S. Navy's surveillance ship Impeccable and Chinese naval forces.

Chinese sailors reportedly sought to prevent the U.S. vessel from looking for Chinese submarines by maneuvering their ships in the way, dropping objects in the water, trying to snag a sonar device and sailing within 25 feet of the American vessel while -- for reasons that are unclear -- stripping down to their underwear.

Obama and Yang "discussed the overall state of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, emphasizing the desire of both sides to strengthen cooperation and build a positive and constructive U.S.-China relationship," the White House said in a statement.

Obama "stressed the importance of raising the level and frequency of the U.S.-China military-to-military dialogue in order to avoid future incidents," the White House said. Before the Oval Office meeting, Yang met with National Security Adviser retired Gen. James Jones, who also brought up the naval incident. Yang also met yesterday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In addition, the White House said Obama and Yang discussed the international financial crisis, North Korea, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Sudan and the president's interest in seeing progress in talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representatives.

On North Korea, Obama "expressed appreciation" for the key role China has played as the chair of the Six-Party Talks, noting America will continue to work with China and other partners in the Six-Party process to verifiably eliminate North Korea’s nuclear program, according to the White House. Obama also "highlighted the risks posed by North Korea’s missile program," the White House said.