President Jiang, who arrived earlier Tuesday to start his four-day visit to the United States, was greeted by Governor Ryan on behalf of the Illinois people.

Jiang said he was "very pleased" to come to Chicago to start his visit to the United States.

Describing Chicago as an important financial, trade, industrial and cultural center of the United States, Jiang said the Chinese government always encourages all its regions and departments to develop economic and technological cooperation with the American state.

Noting that remarkable achievements have been made, the president expressed the hope the two sides will work even harder to upgrade the mutually beneficial cooperation to a new stage.

On his US visit, Jiang said the present China-US ties have maintained a good momentum, and although there still exist differences, both sides share extensive and important common interests.

Cooperation in the anti-terrorism fight and economic and trade sectors have not only yielded huge practical benefits, but also been conducive to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia- Pacific region and the world at large, Jiang said.

The president said that he will meet US President George W. Bush a few days later and expected to have an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and on major international and regional issues with Bush. This will be the third meeting between the two leaders since Bush came to power.

Jiang said he believed that with joint efforts from the two sides, the meeting will achieve positive results and further promote the constructive and cooperative relations between China and the United States.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of the Shanghai Communique. Reviewing the past, Jiang said the two countries should increase mutual understanding and trust, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation.

The visit will serve to push forward bilateral constructive and cooperative ties, he said.

For his part, Governor Ryan said that as the Chinese people maintained their history, culture and tradition in recent years, they also achieved economic progress and social stability.

He said his state had undertaken fruitful cooperation in many fields with China, which served as the state's seventh biggest export market. He added he is willing to work with China to expand bilateral cooperation.

After the meeting, Jiang attended a grand banquet given in his honor by Ryan and the Chicago municipal government.

Jiang is scheduled to leave here for Houston Wednesday, to continue his US visit.

Following his US visit, Jiang will travel to Mexico to attend the 10th Informal Leaders' Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Los Cabos, from October 26 to 27.

(China Daily October 23, 2002)