Cities and towns offer hope for Sino-US relations

Steilacoom of Washington State and Dujiangyan City in Sichuan province on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish friendly and cooperative relations online.

The signing of MOU for friendly ties is a new landmark for the full range of exchanges between the two sides and another successful example of China-US sub-national cooperation.

Steilacoom has enjoyed creating special bonding with China for many decades. In 1979, a Chinese cargo ship,"Liulinhai", left Shanghai, sailed across the Pacific Ocean and arrived at the Seattle port, reopening the maritime shipping route between the two countries with this voyage. Over the years, the State of Washington has been an important avenue for Chinese leaders' visit to the United States, including the visit of President Xi Jinping in 2015. Many seeds of friendship were sowed, grew into towering trees and bore fruits of cooperation.

At the beginning of this new year, Mayor Muri of Steilacoom and Mayor Woodards of Tacoma sent letters to President Xi, wishing him and the Chinese people happy new year and the Beijing Winter Olympic Games a success. On Jan 31, Xi replied to the two mayors and sent them Chinese New Year's greetings.

"This interaction once again demonstrated how deeply both sides cherish their time-honored friendship," Acting Consul General of Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco Pan Qingjiang said at the online signing ceremony.

Dick Muri, Mayor of Steilacoom, said his predecessor has been promoting China-US relations for nearly 20 years, and he hoped he could continue to do the same. Steilacoom was the first city established in Washington State, and it was an honor to be with Ms. Loujanna Rohrer, Chairman of Steilacoom Historical School District Board to witness the signing ceremony.

In October 1982, Washington State and Sichuan Province officially established a friendly province-state relationship, becoming the first international friendly province-state relationship in Sichuan. In 2015, during his visit to Lincoln High School in Washington State, President Xi called on the young people of the two countries to strengthen exchanges, enhance friendship and continue contributing to China-US relations.

In 2018, supported by the Washington State Panda Foundation, along with the Washington State youth friendly exchange delegation, teachers and students from Steilacoom visited Dujiangyan and carried out a series of cultural and educational activities.

In October 2018, seven teachers and students from Dujiangyan visited Washington with a delegation from Sichuan Province. They stayed at the homes of their Steilacoom friends, living and studying with the students from Steilacoom High School.

Mayor of Dujiangyan Municipal People's Government Zhang Yadan expressed his heartfelt thanks to all of the friends giving support and care to the relationship between the two cities. He said that Steilacoom was a trading town in Washington with a vibrant economy and charming sight and that Dujiangyan was one of the few cities with three heritages: the establishment of friendly relationship was a concrete action to deepen the traditional friendship between China and the United States, which also marked a new starting point for the development of the friendly and cooperative relations between the two places.

Vice-chairman of Sichuan Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Tang Jilan, Chairman of Washington State Panda Foundation Chow Ron, President of US-China Youth and Student Exchange Association Zhang Hanjie, Vice-mayor of Dujiangyan City Zeng Yingqian and officials from Sichuan and Chengdu foreign affairs offices also attended the online ceremony and witnessed the establishment of friendly relationship between the two cities.

"2022 marks the 50th Anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China and the first joint Communique of the People's Republic of China and the United States after more than 20 years of isolation and confrontation," Pan said. "The Shanghai Communique is celebrated as an ice-breaking landmark that kickstarted the process of normalizing our bilateral relations, shored up the force of safeguarding world peace and changed the international strategic landscape. The roots and driving force of China-US friendship are embedded in local communities, in towns and cities such as Steilacoom and Dujiangjian." Pan added.