Vice Premier Han Zheng on April 11 met with former U.S. treasury secretary Henry Paulson, calling for advancing healthy and stable development of bilateral ties between China and the United States.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that bilateral ties have achieved historical development after going through various challenges since the two countries established diplomatic ties 40 years ago.

China and the United States share wide interests and shoulder important responsibilities in safeguarding world peace and stability and promoting global development and prosperity, he said.

It is imperative to advance economic and trade cooperation and work for sound and steady development of bilateral ties, with the guidance of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state.

"It is the inevitable requirement for China to strengthen eco-environmental protection so as to achieve high-quality development," Han said. "China stands ready to carry out international cooperation of different forms and work with the Paulson Institute to make concerted efforts and further expand fields of cooperation in eco-environmental protection."

For his part, Paulson said the U.S.-China relationship is one of the most important ties in the world. He added that the Paulson Institute is willing to advance cooperation between the United States and China in areas such as trade and investment, environmental protection, clean energy, and green finance.