Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai makes a speech to some 400 guests at a reception on Monday in the Chinese embassy in Washington to mark the 65thanniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Cui described building a new type of major country relationship between the two nations as "a mission and responsibility that we cannot fail". [Li Ge and Chen Weihua / China Daily]

Senior diplomats from China and the United States voiced their hope for the world's two largest economies to work more closely together.

The Chinese Ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, described building a new type of major country relationship between the two nations as "a mission and responsibility that we cannot fail."

"We shall not fail," Cui told some 400 guests at a reception on Monday in the Chinese embassy in Washington to mark the 65thanniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"So let's work together to enhance mutual confidence, broaden and deepen our cooperation in such areas as two-way trade and investment, energy, infrastructure, climate change, counterterrorism, regional and international issues. Let's also step up military-to-military relations, and people-to-people exchanges, so as to lay a solid foundation for a new model of major country relationship, and to build this great mansion brick by brick."

Cui quoted former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as saying in his bookOn Chinathat the two countries should merge their efforts to improve the world.

"I am confident that by working together, we will be able to build a better world, for ourselves, and for everybody on earth," Cui told the audience, which included many people who have engaged in bilateral relationships for decades.

He described China-US relations as particularly important in China's modernization drive and interaction with the rest of the world.

The two large countries are each other's major trading partners, with an annual trade exceeding $500 billion. More than 230,000 Chinese students are enrolled in US colleges and universities, accounting for about 29 percent of all international students in the US.

Recalling the 35 years of diplomatic ties, Cui said the bilateral relationship has overcome all the difficulties and kept moving forward, despite profound changes in the global environment and national conditions of both countries.

"The development of this relationship has brought tremendous benefits to the people of two countries," he said.

The Chinese ambassador also briefed the guests, which included many foreign diplomats, about the latest development in his country.

He cited the facts that China is now the largest trading partner for 128 countries and one of the main engines for global economic growth and its huge outbound investment and imports from the rest of the world.

"So China's development dividends are spreading all over the world," Cui said.

He also described China's efforts at fulfilling its international responsibility, citing the fact that China contributing the largest number of peacekeeping personnel, totaling 25,000 over the years. Seventeen of them sacrificed their lives for the mission.

China also sent 200 medical workers to West Africa, along with medical facilities and cash.

Cui said China's development opened new opportunities and is making the world a better place for all. But he noted that China is still the world's largest developing country and has the world's largest population. The country still faces numerous challenges at home.

"So in a sense, to be successful in its own development is China's greatest contribution to the world, and indeed, its greatest responsibility to the world," Cui said.

He said China will continue to follow the path of peaceful development and pursue a foreign policy that emphasizes peace, development and win-win cooperation among all countries.

"As China grows stronger and more developed, it will take up even greater international responsibility," he said.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman called the US-China relationship one of the world's most important ties.

She said US National Security Advisor Susan Rice had a series of productive meetings in Beijing recently, and Secretary of State John Kerry will host Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday.

"At the heart of the ties between the United States and China is the fact that we each have a stake in each other's success, and also a mutual interest in working together to address the many critical problems faced by the global community," she said.

She also described the two countries' common objectives in fighting poverty and diseases, such as Ebola, and in peaceful settlement of disputes such as in the Ukraine, the Middle East and South Sudan, and in the fight against international extremism, and in nuclear non-proliferation and climate change.

"Bilaterally we continue to build trust, and to exploit new avenues for cooperation," she said,citing the example of adding the protection of wildlife and endangered species to the agenda of bilateral strategic and economic dialogue.

"We are also striving to institutionalize our military-to-military ties, and to make progress where we do have differences, including cyber security and human rights," she said.

(China Daily USA 09/30/2014 page1)