Chinese President Jiang Zemin and visiting US President George W.
Bush held positive, constructive and fruitful talks in Beijing
Thursday at the Great Hall of the People and exchanged views on
China-US relations and major international and regional issues,
reaching broad and important consensus.
Jiang first expressed his warm welcome to Bush, noting that he and
his US counterpart had a very good meeting in Shanghai four months
ago and he is delighted to meet with Bush again.
"At the meeting in Shanghai, we reached an important consensus on
working together to develop constructive relations of cooperation
between China and the United States," Jiang said. "In the past four
months, the two sides have achieved new progress in dialogue and
cooperation in various areas. The trend of development of bilateral
relations is good."
Bush said that he is pleased to visit China together with his wife
and see the tremendous changes in China with their own eyes. He
expressed appreciation for the warm reception by the Chinese
people, noting that he is very much impressed by the huge changes
in Beijing.
Bush again thanked the Chinese people for their support in the
fight against terrorism after the terrorist attacks in the United
States last September.
Jiang said Bush is paying the visit at a significant time linking
the past and the future of the Sino-US relations.
Three decades ago, former US President Richard Nixon visited China
and leaders of both nations worked together putting an end to their
estrangement and setting about their exchanges and cooperation,
Jiang said, adding that history has proven that it was far-sighted
of them to take that major move.
Jiang noted that 30 years later, although profound changes have
taken place in the international situation, the two countries'
shared interests and common responsibilities for world peace have
expanded rather than dwindled, and their relationship has become
more important rather than less important.
The world expects China and the United States to play their due and
positive roles in safeguarding world peace and stability, Jiang
said.
The lessons and experience of the development of the China-US
relationship in the past 30 years indicate that the two sides
should bear in mind the larger picture, take a long-term
perspective and enhance mutual understanding and trust in
developing the bilateral ties, Jiang said.
Both sides should recognize and respect each other's differences,
and seek to expand their common ground, Jiang said, adding that
they should also strictly abide by the principles in the three
Sino-US joint communiques.
Standing at the threshold of the new century, both China and the
United States should learn from the past, look into the future, and
make concerted efforts for the further development of their
bilateral ties in the future, Jiang said.
In
exchanging in-depth views with Bush, Jiang elaborated on China's
basic guidelines of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two
systems" in solving the Taiwan issue.
Jiang stressed the significance of sticking to the "one China"
policy and abiding by the three Sino-US joint communiques.
Bush reiterated that the US side adheres to the "one China" policy
and abides by the three joint communiques, which is the consistent
position of the US government.
Bush invited Jiang to visit the United States before Jiang attends
this year's APEC Economic Leaders Meeting. Jiang expressed
appreciation for the invitation and accepted it with pleasure.
Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao will visit the United States in
the near future as guest of US Vice-President Richard Bruce
Cheney.
The two heads of state agreed to take active efforts to develop
exchanges and cooperation in the areas of economy and trade,
energy, science and technology, environmental protection, AIDS
prevention and treatment and law enforcement. The Sino-US joint
meetings on economy, commerce and trade, and science and technology
will be held this year.
The two sides also agreed to establish a joint working group for
the issues of environmental protection and climate changes on the
pretext that the two sides do not change their respective positions
on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and
the Kyoto Protocol.
Jiang and Bush also had in-depth discussions on the situation of
international anti-terrorism and they agreed to continue to
strengthen consultations and cooperation on the basis of two-way
exchanges and mutual benefit, and enrich the exchange and
cooperation mechanism for anti-terrorism in the middle and long run
between the two sides.
They also discussed some differences existing between the two
countries. Jiang said that China and the United States have
different national conditions and it is nothing strange for the two
countries to have some differences. He pointed out that they can
continuously reduce differences, expand common views and promote
cooperation so long as they act in the spirit of mutual respect,
equal treatment and seeking common ground while reserving
differences. Bush agreed with Jiang on the point.
Present at the talks from the Chinese side were Vice-Premier Qian
Qichen, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Chinese Ambassador to the
United States Yang Jiechi. The US officials at the talks included
Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt, Secretary of State Colin
Powell, Chief of Staff of White House Andrew Card and Assistant to
the President for National Security Affairs Condoleezza Rice.
(Xinhua News
Agency February 21, 2002)