Localities' sisterhood a 'bridge' in exchanges with US

President Xi Jinping sent a letter to the Fifth China-US Sister Cities Conference on Friday, calling on the event's participants to "continue serving as a bridge for locality-level exchanges between China and the United States".

Themed "Build Green Cities for the People", the conference was held on Friday in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

Participants, including over 100 guests from the US, attended the event jointly organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Jiangsu provincial government.

In his letter, Xi pointed out that the foundation of China-US relations lies in the people, and the ties' source of strength lies in people-to-people friendship.

Sister provinces/states and cities "are important vehicles" for deepening friendship between the two nations and realizing mutual benefits and win-win situations, Xi said, noting that 284 such pairs have been formed since the first one in 1979.

Xi noted that over the past 40 years and beyond, the two countries' sister provinces/states and cities have worked closely together and "achieved fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries".

Friday's conference was the first of its kind since the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous conference was held in July 2019 in Houston, Texas.

In his letter, Xi emphasized that the China-US Sister Cities Conference is an important mechanism focused on locality-level exchanges between China and the US, and since its founding it has "played a positive role in promoting the development of China-US sister cities and deepening cooperation between them".

He expressed his hope that all parties at the event would "help the provinces/states and cities of the two countries to transcend the vast Pacific Ocean", and jointly play a greater role in promoting the healthy and stable development of China-US relations and enhancing the well-being of the two peoples.