Vice President Joe Biden reassured China Sunday that the United States would never default on its debts.

In a speech to students at Sichuan University, in the southwestern city of Chengdu, Biden pointed out that Americans still hold the vast majority of the ballooning U.S. debt. Therefore, he said, Washington has even larger domestic reason for being extremely concerned about repayment.

Biden also said he is confident about the strength of the U.S. economy. He told the students that America has a GDP of almost 15 trillion dollars — about two-and-a-half times as large as China's — the second largest economy.

He welcomed China's growing economy and noted that the U.S. and China also face many of the same global threats and share many of the same strategic objectives and responsibilities.

China holds about $1 trillion of U.S. debt, making it the United States' biggest foreign creditor. It has expressed concern that the deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, barely avoiding default does not do enough to cut the budget deficit.

Biden arrived in Beijing Wednesday for a series of meetings with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, President Hu Jintao, legislative head Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.

He travels next to Mongolia and Japan.