captioning performed by vitac beginning with his service in the united states army during world war ii, to his contributions as national security advisor to president richard nixon and then to secretary of state to president ford henry kissinger has devoted his life to the services of his country and to the search for global peace. few diplomats have had so clear

an impact on foreign affairs. he pioneered the policy of detant. negotiate ad cease-fire and the paris peace accords that contributed to the end of the vietnam war for which he was awarded the nobel peace prize. his unannounced trip to beijing in 1971 laid the ground work for president nixon's february 1972 visit to china. his meetings with the premier and chairman mao and the signing of shanghai cummunique. we celebrate this month the 40th anniversary of this historic event which paved the way for restoring the diplomatic relationships between china and the united states. dr. kissinger is the recipient of a long list of prestigious

awards including the presidential medal of freedom, our nation's highest civilian award. through his prolific writings and global travels he continues to influence thinking on critical foreign policy issues. and his most recent book on china published last year received very high critical acclaim. please join me in welcoming to the podium a very special american, dr. henry kissinger, who will introduce our guest of honor, the vice president of the people's republic of china, vice president xi. [ applause ]

>> mr. vice president, distinguished guests, when the premanner i concluded the communique that announced the secret visit to beijing, the premier said this announcement will shake the world. and even we could not imagine at the time the tremendous implications of the opening of relations between china and the united states. for 40 years through eight american administrations and five generations of chinese

leaders, china and the united states have worked out an enormous series of problems. of course representing different cultures. and in some respects domestic value systems. there have been occasions of disagreement. but the significant aspect is that the two sides have always found a way to understand the complexities and challenges of the other and that they have moved forward through extraordinary alteration of

international events. they have been honest with each other. and they are now entering a new period. never before have so many changes taken place in the world simultaneously. and the relationship between china and the united states is the key element in dealing with the upheavals and opportunities before us. if we work together, common solutions will emerge. if we differ, the world will be forced to choose between conflicting approaches which can only undermine the need for a

cooperative relationship. all of us who have dealt with china over extended periods of time are moved by the hospitality, by the perceptual approach of chinese to their problems. we americans tend to think that every problem has a solution and every solution can be achieved in a quick period of time. the chinese believe that every solution is the beginning of a new set of problems. [ laughter ] and, therefore, they are engaged in an endless process that will never end, but can always move

forward. mr. vice president, you are here at a crucial moment. a moment as significant as the early opening in our relations was. both countries are undergoing domestic transformation. both countries have to deal with a global economy. both countries have to be concerned with its threat of nuclear weapons. both countries face challenges that have never existed before like environment, climate, energy on a global basis.

and both countries face a unique new challenge. for people like myself who taught in the national relations we were brought up on the notion of sovereignty and of conflict between nations. and of the inevitability of competon leading to deepening disagreements. but we live in a new world. and your visit here, mr. vice president, is the beginning of a process by which our two countries deepen their relationship in a new manner. we can prove to the world that

history will laud us not through the conflict of societies, but through their reconciliations. i have had the honor of listening to the vice president explaining his views on the future of our relationship. the importance of the recognition of mutual interest, of the need to be aware of new and emerging importance of people to people conbe tacts, and we have every confidence, mr. vice president, that in the years to come, these feelings will be reciprocated on the american side and that all

of us can look back to this event as the beginning of a long journey of which both our countries can be proud and will benefit the world in the cause of peace. and mr. vice president, i would like to call you to this podium to deliver your remarks. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> translator: ambassador, chair of national committee on u.s.-china relations, mr. kent chair of the u.s.-china business council, dr. henry kissinger, secretary john bryson, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, i am delighted to meet you friend from various friendly organizations during my official visit to the united states. the national committee on u.s.-china relations and the u.s.-china business council have been promoting friendship and cooperation with china long before china-u.s. diplomatic relations were established.

the normalization and development of china-u.s. relations would not have been possible without your tremendous contribution. i salute you for your efforts. and i wish to send warm greetings and express heart felt appreciation to all the friendly organizations and american friends from various professions who have valued and supported the growth of u.s.-china relations over the years. [ applause ] i am paying an official visit to the united states at the invitation of vice president biden, and i have come to further implement the important

agreement reached between president hu jintao and president obama and advance the building of a cooperative partnership between china and the united states based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. during the visit i had a meeting with president obama and held talks with vice president biden. i also had separate meetings with secretary of state clinton, secretary of defense panetta, speaker of the house boehner and senator reid. we have candid and in depth discussions on many issues. reached new and important consensus and achieved fruitful results. this afternoon after this

function, i will go to visit iowa, which will be my second visit in 27 years. i am going to tell my old friends there that the golden keys presented to us by the representative at city hall 27 years ago symbolized the opening of local exchanges and cooperation between our two countries. and today there are already 38 sister province state relationships and 176 pairs of sister cities between our two countries. 47 out of the 50 american states have seen their exports to china grow several or even dozens of times over the past ten years. this shows that once opened the

door to local exchanges and cooperation between china and the united states cannot be closed by any force. on the contrary it will only open wider and wider. ladies and gentlemen, as the chinese saying goes, when you drink water don't forget those who doubt the well. we'll always cherish the memories of the elder generations of chinese and american leaders who with extraordinary strategy vision and political wisdoms opened the door of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. 40 years ago president nixon paid a historic visit to china. his hand shake across the pacific with chairman mao t mao tse tung and chairman li

brought to a close of the long essflaengt between the two countries. in the past 33 years since establishment of diplomatic ties the friendship between our two peoples has deepened, mutual beneficial cooperation has expanded and our interests have become increasingly interconnected. all of this have brought benefits to our two peoples and greatly promoted peace, stability and prosperity in the asian/pacific and the world at large. despite some twists and turns, china-u.s. relations have on the whole kept moving forward. just like an unstoppable river that keeps surging ahead. what has happened tells us that at a time when people throughout the world call for peace and development, china-u.s. friendship accords with the

general trend and popular well. it's a cause that cannot be stopped or reversed. ladies and gentlemen, china-u.s. relations are now at a new historical starting point in this second decade of the 21st century. in january last year president hu jintao reached an important agreement with president obama on building a china-u.s. cooperative partnership. we should work hard to implement the agreement between the two presidents, expand our shared interest, and mutual beneficial cooperation, strive for new progress in building our cooperative partnership, and make it a new title relationship between major countries in the 21st century. to this end, our two sides need to make joint efforts in the following four areas. first, we should steadily increase mutual understanding and strategic trust.

according to a chinese saying without trust one can achieve nothing. china and the united states have important interwoven interests. for us strategic trust is a foundation for mutual beneficial cooperation and greater trust will thread broader cooperation. the two sides should increase mutual understanding and trust and reduce misunderstanding and suspicion. president obama has stated on a number of occasions that the united states while is strong and prosperous and successful china plays a greater role in global affairs. vice president biden stressed in an article after his visit to china last august that china's rise is not america's demise. we in china hope network with the u.s. side to maintain close high level exchanges.

we hope to increase dialogue and exchange views with the united states by making full use of our channels of communication including the strategic economic dialogue, cultural and people to people exchanges and military to military exchanges. by doing so we can better appreciate each other's strategic development goals, avoid misinterpretation misjudgment and build up understanding and build up trust and build up our tap potential. second, we should respect each other's core interests and major concerns. george washington, the first president of the united states said that actions not words are the true criterion of attachment of friends. history shows that when we properly handle each other's call and major interest, china-u.s. relation will grow

smoothly. and stable. otherwise they will be in trouble. we hope that the united states will adhere to the three join communiques and china policy. oppose dayianese independence and increase cooperation along the taiwan straits with cooperation. we hope that the united states will truly honor its commitment of recognizing tibet as part of china and opposing tibet independence and will handle tibet relations in a prudent and proper manner. given differences in current issues between china and united states it's only natural we have issues on human rights. this has been a process of

continuous improvement. china and the united states should continue dialogue and exchanges to implement the consensus reached between our two presidents on respecting each other's development path chosen in light of their national conditions and improve the cause of human rights in both countries. third, we should work hard to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation. mutual best is the defining feature of china-u.s. exchanges and cooperation. over the past 33 years since establishment of diplomatic relations trade between china and the united states has increased by over 180 times, reaching $446.6 billion last year and it is expected to top $500 billion this year. in the last ten years u.s. exports to china have grown by 468%. china has become the fastest

growing export market of the united states. since the international financial crisis broke out china has been taking measures to increase imports especially imports from the united states. investment in trade promotion sent by the chinese government to the united states every year from 2006 to 2011 have made purchases of more than $100 billion. china's overall trade surplus has dropped from the pre-crisis level of over $300 billion u.s. to $150 billion. in 2011 china's trade to gdp ratio dropped from over 7% to 2% and moved within the reasonable range by international standards. the reform of the r and d exchange rate mechanism has played an important role in this process. to be frank it is very important for addressing china-u.s. trade

imbalance that the states adjust its economic policy and structure including removing various restrictions on exports to china in particular easing control on civilian hi-tech exports to china as soon as possible. this will help balance china-u.s. trade, stimulate economic growth and job creation in the united states, and improve the balance of u.s. international payments. china has proposed to the united states a framework for promoting two way trade and investment. our two sides need to continue to work together to tighten the difficulty, advance our business cooperation to a higher level and broader areas and create new highlights of mutually beneficial cooperation. fourth, we should steadily enhance coordination and cooperation in international affairser and 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 hot spot issues. we should increase cooperation on global issues that shares climate change, counterterrorism, cyber security, outer space security and energy 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 anywhere else this region should

naturally become an important area where china and the united states engaging positive interactions and pursue mutually beneficial cooperation. china welcomes the constructive role by the united states in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the asian/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 china i came across an article in a newspaper. it told the story about an american couple who tried but failed to revisit a place called gulig in china which had a special place in their heart. milton gosner the husband was a

professor of physics at the university of california. in 1901 his parents took him to china and he had a happy childhood there which left him with unforgettable memories. in 1911, the family returned to california. in the decades that followed, milton gosner had been longing to revisit his childhood home in china. however, he could not make it due to failing health. in the final days of his life he kept uttering gulig, gulig. his wife had no idea where this gulig was. but still she went to china

several times, hoping to find the place which meant so much to her late husband. but she wasn't able to locate gulig until finally she got the help of a chinese student in the united states. and learned that gulig is in fu chin province. after reading the story i contacted mrs. gosner and invited her to visit gulig. i met her in august 1992, and arranged for her to visit the place her husband had missed so much. on that day she met nine childhood friends of milton

gosner all in their 90s and listened to them reminisce about the past. it was a happy occasion. mrs. gosner 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 gulig and warlt and goodwill 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, include 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 0,000 chinese students on government scholarships to the united states for doctorate degrees. the u.s. government on its part has launched the 100 strong initiative. this bodies well for china-u.s. exchanges and cooperation and means there's no lack of people to continue this cause. i ownership all will join the cause of building u.s.-china friendship. seize opportunities and exchange opportunities and make u.s.-china cooperative partnership grow from strength to strength. that's all. thank you. [ applause ]