We should now set our sight on the longer term and draw up a good blueprint for China-US relations in the coming years. We should make concerted efforts and promote sound and steady growth of our relations.
To advance China-US relations in the new era, we should adopt a strategic and long-term perspective and keep the relations on the right track.
During his telephone conversation with President Hu Jintao at the end of last January, President Obama stated the US commitment to a more positive and constructive relationship with China. Secretary Clinton said to me during her visit to China last month that US-China relations are embracing a new era of positive cooperation. We welcome such statements from the US side. We believe that China and the Unites States now have more common interests and a broader foundation of cooperation on a series of major and pressing issues facing today's world. The strategic significance and global influence of China-US relations have further increased. Our relations in the new era should be broader and deeper, and we should work together in an all-round way to raise China-US relations to a new and much higher level of cooperation in the 21st century on the basis of mutual respect, seeking common ground while shelving differences and cooperation for win-win results.
Mutual respect means that we should respect international law and norms governing international relations, view each other in an objective and sensible way, respect each other's choice of development path and core interests, and refrain from doing anything that may harm each other's sovereignty, security or development interests. Seeking common ground while shelving differences means that we should preserve and highlight the positive aspects of our relations. We should work hard to resolve differences and put aside those that cannot be resolved for the time being, so that they will not stand in the way of the overall development of our relations. Cooperation for win-win results means that we should expand practical cooperation and converging interests, actively respond to the opportunities as well as challenges brought by globalization, pursue common development and progress and make contributions to world peace and development.
To advance China-US relations in the new era, we should maintain close dialogue and exchanges at the top and other levels and cement the political foundation.
Over the years, leaders of our two countries have maintained close communication on major issues concerning China-US relations through mutual visits, meetings, telephone calls and correspondence. These exchanges have given a strong boost to the sustained, sound and steady growth of our relations. The legislatures, militaries and government departments of the two countries have also engaged in productive exchanges and cooperation on issues of mutual interest. And the two countries have put in place diverse mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation in a wide range of areas. All these are effective ways to promote our relations and should therefore be maintained.