John Kerry, the US' top diplomat, visited China on Saturday during an Asian tour seeking to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Analysts see the event as tone-setting for bilateral relations between China and the US after both countries welcomed new administrations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on both sides to promote dialogue, respect each other's core interests and properly handle differences. He said China and the US must pave the way for the development of a new type of relationship between the two countries.

"This visit is quite meaningful. As the importance of China and its role in the Asia-Pacific region is growing fast, Kerry's visit indicates a new mild era for Sino-US relations, or even a mild era for the whole region, is approaching," Zhao Yongsheng, visiting scholar at Johns-Hopkins University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

High level talks between the world's two most powerful economies were held during Kerry's visit. In his first visit as the new US Secretary of State, Kerry said he's looking to "expand dialogue and set a roadmap" with China.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for closer economic ties, and a "shared responsibility" for maintaining peace and stability. Kerry echoed these thoughts, urging both sides to enhance cooperation.

Li said he hoped that "the US side could take substantial actions to lift the ban on the export of high-tech products to China."

"The new partnership will be based on increasing economic competition and decreasing military threats and conflicts between the two countries. The two keywords for this partnership should be mutual trust and mildness," Zhao said.

Before Kerry's visit, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, acting as US President Barack Obama's special envoy, came to China in March while Tom Donilon, the US National Security Advisor, will come to China in May.

"Bilateral relations face many challenges but these aspects also brew positive ways to push the two countries to improve relations," Paul Haenle, chief of the Beijing-based Carnegie-Tsinghua Center, told the Global Times.

The two countries will hold their fifth China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in July in the US, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Saturday.

Kerry told the Global Times that the US welcomes private capital from China to invest in the country though some State-owned enterprises are assessed carefully in the US.

As the US proceeds with its pivot back to Asia, regional issues will be key in bilateral talks.

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, Internet security, climate change and the Iran and Syria problems will need the US and China to work together, Haenle said.

"After Kerry took over as Secretary of State, the strategy of restructuring the balance of power in Asia hasn't changed. But instead of restraining China's development, the core of the US' Asia strategy will be boosting cooperation with China to reach a win-win situation," Haenle added.

Xi stated he sought to build a new form of relationship with Washington centered on core interests when he met Lew in March but this time reiterated a new partnership and stood firm on his desire to see ties improve.

Kerry then headed to Japan on Sunday after China and the US vowed to work together to try to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Kerry called it a "critical time" for the development of China-US ties, and for resolving tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He said that China had made an unprecedented joint statement to abide by the international community's resolve to denuclearize the peninsula.

Chinese Premier Li said while meeting Kerry that troublemaking on the Korean Peninsula issue would harm the interests of all.

"North Korea's current belligerent behavior is alarming but not incomprehensible. Its actions look more like desperation than intrinsic menace. Let us hope that Kerry and Xi can respond with maturity and reason," John Steinbruner, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, told the Global Times.

Experts stated China would likely play an important part in working with other countries in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. However, Zhang Liangui, an expert on the Korean situation, told the Global Times earlier that China's hands are tied on the issue since North Korea has successfully conducted nuclear tests.

Xinhua contributed to this story