Fourth, we should steadily enhance coordination and cooperation in international affairs and on global issues. Our world is undergoing complex and profound changes. China and the United States should meet challenges together and share responsibilities in international affairs. This is what China-U.S. cooperative partnership calls for and what the international community expects from us. China and the United States should enhance coordination regarding the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue and other hotspot issues through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms. We should increase cooperation on global issues such as climate change, counter-terrorism, cyber security, outer space security, energy and resources, public health, food security and disaster prevention and mitigation. We should jointly promote global peace, stability and common development and make the international system a more equitable, just, inclusive and orderly one. As the interests of China and the United States converge more closely in the Asia-Pacific than in anywhere else, this region should naturally become an important area where China and the United States engage in positive interactions and pursue mutually beneficial cooperation. China welcomes a constructive role by the United States in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific. At the same time, we hope the United States will respect the interests and concerns of China and other countries in this region.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the spring of 1992, when I was working in Fuzhou City in Fujian Province, I came across an article entitled "My Guling" on a newspaper. It told a story about an American couple who tried but failed to revisit a place called Guling in China, which had a special place in their heart. Milton Gardner, the husband, was a professor of physics in the University of California. In 1901, his parents took him to China, and he had a happy childhood in Guling, Fuzhou, which left him with unforgettable memories. In 1911, the family returned to California. In the decades that followed, Milton Gardner had been longing to revisit his childhood home. However, he could not make it due to failing health. In the final days of his life, he kept uttering "Kuling, Kuling." His wife had no idea where this Kuling was, but still she went to China several times, hoping to find the place which meant so much to her late husband. But her efforts were in vain until finally a Chinese student in the United States helped her locate Guling. After I read their story, I immediately contacted Mrs. Gardner through relevant departments and invited her to visit Guling. I met her four months later in August 1992 and arranged for her to visit the place her husband had missed so much. There, she met nine childhood friends of Milton Gardner, all in their 90s, and listened to them reminiscing about the past. It was a happy occasion. Mrs. Gardner was so excited that she finally fulfilled her husband's last wish. And she said that she would cherish this bond of friendship between her husband and the people of China, because after seeing for herself the beautiful Guling and the warmth of the Chinese people, she now understood why her husband had been so deeply attached to China. I am sure there are many such touching stories between our two peoples. We should further strengthen our people-to-people exchanges and build even stronger public support for China-U.S. mutually beneficial cooperation.

China is stepping up efforts to implement three projects that will each benefit 10,000 people, including giving scholarships to 10,000 American college students to study in China within four years, receiving 10,000 Americans in China as part of the "Chinese Bridge Scholarship" program and sending 10,000 Chinese students on government scholarships to the United States for doctoral degrees. The U.S. Government, on its part, has launched the "100,000 Strong" initiative. This augurs well for China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation and means that there will be no lack of people to carry on this cause. I hope that more Chinese and Americans from all sectors will join in the cause of building China-U.S. friendship. Let us seize opportunities, intensify exchanges, build trust, deepen cooperation and make China-U.S. cooperative partnership grow from strength to strength!

Thank you.

(Source: www.fmprc.gov.cn)