On June 1st , President Li Xiaolin held a meeting with former US Congressman Mark Kennedy and the students from George Washington University.

President Li briefed the group about China. The Reform and Opening-up Policy which was adopted more than 30 years ago brought tremendous development to China. But it also resulted in serious problems and challenges such as environmental pollution, imbalanced development and corruption. To combat these problems and ensure a healthy and sustained social and economic growth, the Chinese government has drawn up the strategy of constructing a comprehensive well-off society, deepening the reform and opening up, running the country by law and being strict in Party discipline.

She pointed out that China’s reform propelled the China-US relationship and vice versa. The bilateral relations have become increasingly interconnected. China and the US should not tackle their problems and divergences from the ideological perspectives, rather take the respect to each other’s history, tradition and culture as the precondition and solve the problems through peaceful means of dialogues and consultation. Mutual trust and understanding are critical if we want to push forward a healthy and stable bilateral relationship.

Congressman Kennedy held that China is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. He has been in China for many times. Each time he observed changes of development. The US-China relationship is the most important relationship in the world. The two countries have maintained frequent exchanges at all levels in recent years. People in American are now looking forward to President Xi’s visit later this year. Though the diplomatic ties have been established for 36 years, how to enhance mutual understanding between our two countries remains important and imperative. He hoped that this trip would help the students better understand China.

During the meeting, President Li also exchanged views with the students on the issues such as Chinese culture, status of women in China and international relations.