Chinese President Hu Jintao's latest state visit to the United States bore rich fruit and opened a new chapter of cooperation between the two countries, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama during a bilateral meeting at the White House in Washington, the United States, Jan. 19, 2011. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

The tour, from Tuesday through Friday, came at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, on the 40th anniversary of the resumption of contact between the two countries and on the opening year of China's 12th five-year plan for national socioeconomic development, Yang noted.

Meanwhile, the international situation was witnessing deep and complicated changes, and the China-U.S. relationship was forging ahead with increasing momentum while inevitably encountering some differences and disputes, he said.

Against such a backdrop, the Chinese president held frank and in-depth talks with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, and many other senior political figures, and reached important consensus on bilateral relations and a host of major regional and global affairs, Yang said.

During the tightly scheduled trip, which saw Hu attend nearly 20 events in Washington and Chicago within 68 hours, the Chinese leader also reached out to the U.S. public, conveying China's resolution to advance China-U.S. ties, highlighting China's commitment to peaceful development and presenting China's image of peace, development, opening-up and progress, Yang said.

The U.S. and international media, he added, attached great importance to and spoke highly of Hu's trip, hailing it as a historic visit at a crucial moment and whose significance was manifested partly in the top level reception with full pomp and ceremony given by the U.S. government.

In summary, the latest step in China-U.S. diplomacy achieved rich results and cast a far-reaching influence not only upon the two countries themselves but upon the whole world, the Chinese foreign minister said.

Charting future course of China-U.S. relations

Since China and the United States established formal diplomatic relations 32 years ago, the China-U.S. relationship had maintained sound development overall thanks to concerted efforts by both sides, Yang said.

The two sides had harvested rich fruit from their extensive cooperation, retained effective communication and coordination on major regional and global issues, brought tangible benefits to the two peoples, and made great contributions to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, he said.

In the new era, China and the United States shared expanding common interests, shouldered increasing common responsibilities, and enjoyed a greater prospect of bilateral cooperation, the minister said.

In his talks with Obama, Hu stressed that, as heavyweight players on the world stage, China and the United States should push forward their positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship through new approaches, new moves and new spirits.

In a five-point proposal, the Chinese president underscored the need to develop a political relationship that featured equality, mutual trust and the precept of seeking common ground while reserving differences, to deepen their comprehensive, cooperative, mutually beneficial and win-win economic ties, to cooperate in meeting global challenges, to promote friendly exchanges between the two peoples and to establish a pattern of high-level contact based on in-depth communication and candid dialogue.

China, Hu said, was ready to work together with the United States to build on past progress, properly handle sensitive issues, jointly secure a sustained, healthy and steady development of bilateral ties and create a new landscape of their cooperation.

Stressing that Hu's visit injected new impetus into the growth of bilateral relations, Obama fully agreed to Hu's proposal, adding that the United States cherished its relationship with China and was willing to step up high-level contact, beef up strategic mutual trust and crank up cooperation on major regional and global affairs on the basis on mutual respect and common interests.

During the visit, the two heads of state mapped out the future course for their countries to enhance bilateral ties and cooperation, and the two sides declared in a joint communique their commitment to building a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

The announcement, Yang said, would guide the two sides to further consolidate their ties, expand their win-win cooperation, bring more benefits to their nations and make more contributions to world peace, stability and prosperity.