China's president Xi Jinping has told US business leaders that China will enjoy a long period of economic growth, despite recent wobbles, in a speech as part of his first official visit to the country since he became leader.

Key points: Xi says China will continue to enjoy economic growth

Xi says China will continue to enjoy economic growth Xi is on first US trip since becoming leader

Xi is on first US trip since becoming leader Boeing reaches deal with Chinese firms worth $54 billion

Mr Xi, who kicked off his trip on Tuesday wooing Seattle's elite with pop-culture jokes, said he was aware of risks and challenges facing China's economy and was adopting more forceful and innovative macroeconomic measures to address them.

"The positive long-term trend in China's economy will not change," he told the gathering, which included Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett.

China's recent loosening of controls on the yuan — effectively devaluing its currency to boost exports — ruffled US feathers and was blamed for market turmoil in August.

"I believe that from a long-term perspective, China's economic fundamentals are good," Mr Xi said.

"We are working to create a new open economic system, push forward reform of foreign investment management and greatly reduce the restrictions on foreign investment."

Mr Xi said a key part of that reform would be reducing the scope of the current "negative list" on foreign investment, adding, "Our positive list will be bigger, a longer list. We will continue to build an open and law-based environment."

He also said China would greatly strengthen protection of intellectual property.

Mr Xi added that he hoped the United States in turn would loosen export restrictions on high tech products and create a fair business environment for Chinese investors in the country.

Cyber security remains a key issue of contention

The Chinese leader will be a formal guest of honour at a state dinner at the White House on Friday hosted by US president Barack Obama.

He is also due to deliver a major speech at the United Nations in New York.

On Tuesday, Mr Xi told a gathering of political elite in Seattle — including former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger — that the city was almost a household name in China because of the film Sleepless in Seattle.

When talking about the push to address corruption in the country, he said: "There is no House of Cards," a reference to the popular Netflix television program.

The trip comes amid heightened tensions between the US and China over cyber espionage, including allegations that Chinese hackers have targeted a number of high profile US companies and government agencies.

Hackers who stole security clearance data on millions of defence department and other US government employees got away with about 5.6 million fingerprint records, some 4.5 million more than initially reported, the government said.

Mr Xi said on Tuesday that China was ready to set up a "high-level joint dialogue mechanism" with the United States on fighting cyber crimes.

"The Chinese government will not, in whatever form, engage in commercial thefts or encourage or support such attempts by anyone," Mr Xi said.

"Both commercial cyber theft and hacking against networks are crimes that must be punished in accordance with law and relevant international treaties."

China commits to buy $54 billion of planes from Boeing

After his meeting with business leaders, Mr Xi toured the Everett, Washington, factory where Boeing makes aircraft such as the 777 and 787 Dreamliner.

The company announced that it had won orders and commitments for 300 planes from China, a deal worth $38 billion ($54 billion).

In addition to the order for planes, Boeing was expected to announce a new Chinese finishing plant for its 737 airliner.

The plans for the new plant were criticised by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who said: "That will end up taking a tremendous number of jobs away from the United States."

On Tuesday, Xi shook hands with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who masterminded Richard Nixon's trip to China in 1972. ( Reuters: Jason Redmond )

Mr Xi was also due to head to the Microsoft campus, where tech executives were set to hold a US-China internet forum.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was expected to meet Mr Xi, but Google executives were not expected to attend, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Both Facebook and Google are essentially blocked in mainland China.

Google largely pulled its services out of China five years ago after refusing to continue self-censoring its search results.

More recently, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has made no secret that he wants to get back into China via Google Play, the app store for its Android mobile operating system.

Beneath the diplomatic niceties of Mr Xi's business meetings, serious issues lurk.

A group of 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners called on Mr Obama to make a public call for the release of their fellow laureate, Liu Xiaobo, and his wife Liu Xia, during a summit meeting with Mr Xi later this week.

US secretary of commerce Penny Pritzker greeted Mr Xi on Tuesday, offering cooperation and support before saying that the US government and companies have "serious concerns" about "the lack of a level playing field across a range of sectors".

ABC/wires