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China to boost economic ties with US amid financial crisis

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-22 14:16

A senior Chinese diplomat said in Beijing on Tuesday that China welcomes Washington's economic stimulation plans and hopes such measures will yielded in more results.

"We will enhance policy coordination on macro-economics and expand economic and trade cooperation with the United States," said Zhou Wenzhong, Chinese ambassador to the United States, in an interview with Xinhua.

China will, along with US efforts, is pushing for the reform of the international financial system, tighter financial monitoring and the preservation of the stability of the international financial market so as to pull world economy back to the regular track of development, Zhou said.

China and the United States rank as each other's 2nd largest trade partners. Bilateral trade surged more than 130 times to reach $333.7 billion from 1979 to 2008, Chinese customs figures show.

Zhou lauded the political ties between the two states since they established diplomatic relations in 1979, following the Korean War and decades of curtaining off.

"The Chinese-US ties have grown into one of the most vigorous bilateral relations along with the most important influence and greatest potential," Zhou said, noting such relationship benefits not only the two peoples but also world peace and development.

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Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama have agreed to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship between the two countries in the 21st century.

China and the United States have cooperated on major international and regional issues, such as counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and climate change, Zhou said.

Personnel exchange is also frequent between the two countries, Zhou said. About one-third of overseas Chinese students were in the United States and 12,000 US students came to China last year.

Comprehensive changes were occurring in the international situation and the global financial crisis was expanding, Zhou said.

"Under such a context, the responsibility that was shouldered by both China and the United States of safeguarding world peace and stability was much more great," Zhou said.

"There's also increasing common interests and broad prospective for cooperation," he noted, urging the two states to abide by the three Sino-US joint communiques, a series of agreements that served as the political foundation of the diplomatic relations.