Trump sends greetings to Xi

US President Donald Trump greets Vice-Premier Liu Yandong at the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong told US President Donald Trump on Thursday that Beijing is ready to work with Washington to make his first state visit to China a "successful, historic" one.

During their meeting at the White House, Liu also conveyed President Xi Jinping's greetings to Trump, who in return asked Liu to send his greetings to Xi.

The White House announced early on Friday that Trump and first lady Melania Trump will travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines from Nov 3 to 14.

Trump will also attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam.

Trump said he is very much looking forward to his China trip and to meeting again with President Xi.

The two presidents have met twice this year, at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April and in Hamburg, Germany, during the G20 summit in July.

Trump said he believes the visit will be a great success, according to a news release from China's Foreign Ministry.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson left for Beijing later on Thursday to prepare for Trump's visit. It will be Tillerson's second trip to China as secretary of state.

Liu also told Trump that the first China-US Social and Cultural Dialogue has yielded positive results, thanks to the concerted efforts of the two sides.

The dialogue, one of four Cabinet-level dialogues agreed to by Trump and Xi at their Florida meeting, was co-chaired by Liu and Tillerson on Thursday and focused on the theme of "living together for the next 50 years based on mutual understanding".

Liu said she hoped the two sides will implement the consensus of the presidents by giving full display to the role of cultural exchange in building stronger social and public support for the development of Sino-US relations.

Trump also stressed the importance of US-China social and cultural exchange, saying that he hoped the two sides would expand exchange and cooperation in various areas, according to the news release.

Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the US State Department, said the inaugural China-US Social and Cultural Dialogue was "terrific".

"That dialogue focused on advancing cooperation in seven areas: education, social development, science and technology, health, subnational, arts and culture, and environment and conservation," she said.

At the dialogue on Thursday, the vice-premier said that for the China-US exchanges to move steadily forward over time, they should lay a solid foundation for Sino-US relations by considering the development of the bilateral relationship over the next 50 years.

The two sides should also respect each other's development path and social system as well as each other's sovereignty, security and benefits, Liu said.

Tillerson said the US is ready to expand exchange and cooperation in various social and cultural areas, which he said is of great importance to the bilateral relationship, according to the release from the Foreign Ministry.

The two sides issued a joint declaration after the first dialogue and the First China-US Social and Cultural Dialogue Action Plan, which details at least 130 projects for the two sides to implement.