United States President Barack Obama told several hundred students at a town hall meeting Monday in Shanghai that the US and China don’t have to be at odds, despite the challenges facing them.

Obama said, “Our relationship has not been without disagreement and difficulty, but the notion that we must be adversaries is not predestined.”

He also called for open dialogue but said he recognized that each nation was unique, saying, “I believe that each country must chart its own course.”

Still, there are certain core principles that all people must share, Obama said. Those principles include equal rights for everyone, a government that reflects the will of the people, open commerce and free access to information, and the rule of law, not of public officials, he added.

He told the gathering, “We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation, but we also don’t believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation.”

(via CNN)