The summit was billed as a chance for the two men to get to know each other
US President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have ended a two-day summit described by a US official as "unique, positive and constructive".
US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said Mr Obama had warned Mr Xi that cyber-crime could be an "inhibitor" in US-China relations.
He also said that both countries had agreed that North Korea had to denuclearise.
The talks in California also touched on economic and environmental issues.
The two leaders spent nearly six hours together on Friday and another three hours on Saturday morning at the sprawling Sunnylands retreat in California.
Tom Donilon: "If there continues to be this direct theft...it's going to be a difficult problem in the economic relationship"
While briefly appearing for a stroll together on Saturday, Mr Obama described their progress as "terrific".
After the talks concluded, Mr Donilon told a press conference that President Obama had described to Mr Xi the types of problems the US has faced from cyber-intrusion and theft of intellectual property.
He gave no details but said Mr Obama underscored that Washington had no doubt that the intrusions were coming from inside China.
Earlier, Mr Xi's senior foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi told reporters that China wanted co-operation rather than friction with the US over cyber-security.
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The two presidents ended their summit with a 50-minute walk in the grounds of this lush estate, talking one to one, with only interpreters present”
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"Cyber-security should not become the root cause of mutual suspicion and friction, rather it should be a new bright spot in our co-operation," he said.
On North Korea, Mr Donilon said the two leaders had achieved "quite a bit of alignment".
"They agreed that North Korea has to denuclearise, that neither country will accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state and that we would work together to deepen co-operation and dialogue to achieve denuclearisation," he said.
Immediately after the summit ended, the White House issued a statement saying the two nations had agreed to work together for the first time to reduce hydrofluorocarbons - a potent greenhouse gas.
The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says the White House appears to be delighted by the summit, with Mr Donilon repeatedly calling it "unique".
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Sunnylands
- Built in the 1960s in Rancho Mirage, California, as a home for Walter and Leonore Annenberg
- 25,000-sq ft house was designed by renowned American architect Quincy Jones
- 200-acre estate includes 11 lakes, a tennis court, and a nine-hole golf course
- In 2001, the Annenbergs directed that the estate be available to serve as a sanctuary for high-level national and world leaders seeking privacy and peace for resolving international issues
- Has hosted seven US presidents, British royalty and other world leaders
The summit was the first meeting between the two men since Mr Xi became president in March.
It was billed as a chance for the two to get to know each other.
Speaking after his first session of talks with Mr Xi on Friday, Mr Obama described cyber-security as "uncharted waters".
On Friday, the Guardian newspaper published what it described as a US presidential order to national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyber-attacks.
The White House has not commented on the report.
The US and China are the world's two largest economies. The US runs a huge trade deficit with China, which hit an all-time high of $315bn (£204bn) last year.
Last week, the Chinese firm Shuanghui agreed to buy US pork producer Smithfield for $4.7bn (£3.1bn) - the largest takeover of a US company by a Chinese rival.
The deal highlights the growing power of Chinese firms and their desire to secure global resources.
US producers want China to raise the value of its currency, the renminbi, which would make Chinese goods more expensive for foreign buyers and possibly hold back exports.
Beijing has responded with a gradual easing of restrictions on trading in the renminbi.
Intellectual property is also an area of concern for US firms.
A report last month by the independent Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property put losses to the US from IP theft at as much as $300bn (£192bn) a year. It said 50-80% of the thefts were thought to be by China.
Ahead of the summit, White House officials told reporters hacking would be raised, amid growing concern in the US over alleged intrusions from China in recent months.
Last month the Washington Post, citing a confidential Pentagon report, reported that Chinese hackers had accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems.
The US also directly accused Beijing of targeting US government computers as part of a cyber-espionage campaign in a report in early May.
by bbc
Obama, China Make Climate Change Agreement
By Matt Spetalnick, Steve Holland and John Ruwitch
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif., June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, completed two days of get-to-know-you talks on Saturday that covered disputes like cyber hacking and North Korea and may set the stage for U.S.-Chinese relations for years to come.
The pair spent about eight hours together over Friday and Saturday at a sprawling retreat in the sun-baked desert near Palm Springs, California, an informal summit aimed at injecting some warmth into often chilly relations and providing the chance to talk about their differences openly.
While there were plenty of smiles for the cameras, there was no sign of any significant breakthrough on problems that have dogged dealings between America and China for years, particularly accusations of Chinese thievery of U.S. industrial and military secrets through cyber intrusions.
In one accomplishment, Obama and Xi agreed their governments would work together to find ways to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons as a way to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.
As their second day of meetings began, Obama and Xi appeared outside in the morning heat at the Sunnylands retreat, a secluded 200-acre (81-hectare) complex where eight U.S. presidents have visited.
Obama and Xi walked slowly side by side, smiling and chatting amiably in English across a manicured green lawn between two ponds. Trailed by translators and aides, the two leaders, dressed casually in shirt sleeves, walked across a small arched bridge.
"Terrific," said Obama when asked by a reporter how meetings were going.
The two leaders wrestled with how to handle China's rise on the world stage, more than 40 years after President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit to Communist China in 1972 ended decades of estrangement between Washington and Beijing.
Although Obama said he wanted to make room for the "peaceful rise" of China, the two countries do not see eye to eye on trade, bellicose behavior by nuclear-armed North Korea, human rights and each country's military intentions.
Obama cited a "whole range of challenges on which we have to cooperate, from ... North Korea's nuclear and missile programs to proliferation, to issues like climate change."
China experts say if Obama and Xi can develop personal rapport - something lacking between U.S. presidents and Xi's notoriously wooden predecessor, Hu Jintao - and make at least some progress on substantive issues, the summit could gain historic significance.
Each leader appeared to gain something from the talks. Obama was able to set aside diplomatic niceties and talk one-on-one about the cyber dispute and other sore points.
Xi was able to promote directly to Obama his desire for a "new model of major country relationship," in which China would be viewed as an equal global player.
"One would hope that there's a level of confidence that emerges from this meeting, and it's something that's very personality specific," said Richard Solomon, a former assistant secretary of state.
CYBER HACKING
While China worries the United States is trying to encircle it militarily with its strategic "pivot to Asia," the cyber dispute is the most pressing issue for Obama.
The Washington Post reported recently that China had used cyber attacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. China dismissed the report, saying it needed no outside help for its military development.
After more than two hours of discussions on Friday night, Xi and Obama said they needed to work together to tackle cyber-security issues.
Potential help in the effort to rein in cyber theft came when the State Department announced China had agreed with the United States, Russia and other major nations that international law applies to actions that states take in cyberspace. That could help ensure infrastructure like energy grids are not targeted by cyber attacks.
The two leaders agreed to expand military-to-military ties, an area that has been hindered by mistrust and poor communication.
"We are more likely to achieve our objectives of prosperity and security of our peoples if we are working cooperatively rather than engaged in conflict," Obama told reporters. (Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)
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Reuters | Posted: 06/08/2013 4:26 pm EDT