Formal visit starts with gathering of historically significant officials

WASHINGTON / NEW YORK - After a tiresome cross-Pacific flight, Vice-President Xi Jinping began his five-day US tour with a special lesson listening to senior US officials who either helped found or preserved China-US ties.

The seven special guests included former US Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former assistants for National Security Affairs Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Samuel Berger, and former US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

Gathering for a dinner in the hotel where Xi is staying, the vice-president began his welcome with a tribute to the heavyweights, thanking them for continuous contribution to the China-US ties, even after they left their posts.

"It's the first activity for my current US trip, and I look forward to meeting President (Barack) Obama and Vice-President (Joe) Biden tomorrow. I will raise a lot of questions to you tonight and hope to get early inspiration from you on the current visit," Xi said with a humble smile.

He also urged the "US people of vision" are not to let the election factors to leave "regretable sequelas" on China-US tie in the election year.

Xi also said the US side should look at China in an objective and sensible way, to take concrete measures that are conducive to enhancing mutual-trust with China, and properly handles issues related to China's core-interests with caution.

Kissinger, known as the architect of the China-US relations after a secret visit to China in 1971, said he recently learned of Xi's opinions of China's ties to the US. The former secretary of state said those views including those in a written interview published in The Washington Post on Monday "are fundamentally important for the future of Chinese-US relations".

Kissinger said those former officials represent the political values of both parties in the US during the past 40 years.

"The colleagues here might be divided during the upcoming US election campaign later on this year, yet they are united on the importance of China-US relations," Kissinger said.

"China and the US face the common challenges to seize the opportunities to promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific area and all over the world," he said. "We will do our best to make you feel welcome and make you feel we (China and US) have common destiny."

Xi arrived in the US on Monday afternoon on a formal visit, which analysts said are all important for the stable development of China-US ties in a turbulent US election year.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the China visit by former US president Richard Nixon's in 1972 and the declaration of the Shanghai Communique, which helped lay the foundation of China-US ties.

General Brent Scowcroft, who was also present at the gathering on Monday, told China Daily in a recent interview that "China and US have very different perspectives and we have different forms of governments. But rather than shouting at each other and criticizing each other, we should seek to understand that something is not going to change in the short run, like the way we run our own country and the way China runs itself.

"And we should seek to understand each other and each other's point of views. But we don't have to agree on everything in order to have a good and solid relationship. Understanding is the important thing, not agreeing," Scowcroft said.

Experts said the gathering on the first day of Xi's visit to North America conveys the significance of the China-US ties.

Li Cheng, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said "the Chinese leader wants to convey the message that China in general, and himself in particular, truly value personal friendship, which is the foundation of any bilateral relationship".

"In return, those US China hands may convey to Vice-President Xi their shared view that the constructive and cooperative Sino-US relationship is not a matter of choice, but a necessity; not a historical coincidence, but should be a future trend. The economic prosperity and peace in the 21st century world requires the US and China to work together rather than compete against each other."

Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said "Xi is smart to listen to those people who have invested in constructive relations with China, but also understand the difficult challenges we face as well as some of the ways to overcome them."