Chinese President Jiang Zemin said in Beijing on Wednesday that
China and the United States had more common interests than
differences.
In
a meeting with a group of members of the US House of
Representatives led by Curt Weldon, Jiang urged the two sides to
widen their common ground and treat their differences with mutual
respect and moderation, and seek common views while putting aside
differences for the sake of boosting ties.
The healthy and steady growth of Sino-US relations was in the
interests of the two peoples and conducive to peace, stability and
development in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, he
said.
He
made positive remarks on the recent momentum in Sino-US relations,
saying that new progress had been made in exchanges and cooperation
in such areas as counter-terrorism and trade.
The world should be colorful and allow different development styles
to co-exist, he said.
Saying Taiwan remained the most important and sensitive issue in
Sino-US relations, he hoped the United States would adhere to the
one-China policy and the three
Sino-US joint communiques.
Weldon said that the United States backed contact with China, and
hoped to develop long-term friendly ties with China and become its
good friend and partner.
He
said that he had friends in both China's mainland and Taiwan who
all admitted to being Chinese and there was only one China. "We
support the one-China policy," he said.
The US congressmen are in Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese
People's Institute of Foreign Affairs.
(Xinhua News
Agency May 29, 2002)