Speech at the Opening Session of the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum

Xi Jinping, Vice President of the People's Republic of China

Los Angeles, February 17, 2012

Secretary Bryson,

Governor Brown, Mayor Villaraigosa,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

It is a real pleasure to come to the beautiful city of Los Angeles and attend the opening session of the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China and the issuance of the Shanghai Communique. Los Angeles is a major hub in China-U.S. economic and trade exchanges. About 40 percent of China-U.S. trade is handled here through the Los Angeles Customs District every year. It is therefore a fitting venue for the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, which offers a good platform for closer exchanges and deeper cooperation between our business communities. I wish to express my sincere congratulations on the opening of the forum, and extend warm greetings and best wishes to all the friends who have played their part in promoting China-U.S. business ties.

Over the past 40 years, especially over the past 33 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and the United States have moved from mutual estrangement to close exchanges, with their interests increasingly intertwined. The two governments have put in place over 60 dialogue mechanisms at various levels and in different fields. Our people-to-people exchanges have been growing. More than three million mutual visits are made every year, with nearly 10,000 people traveling across the Pacific each day. China-U.S. relationship has become one of the most important, dynamic and promising bilateral relationships in the world. As I look back over the years, I find the following three aspects most impressive in China-U.S. business relations.

First, business cooperation has become the biggest highlight in

China-U.S. relations. The mutually beneficial business cooperation between China and the United States is expanding both in scope and scale and is moving toward a higher level. At the time when we established diplomatic ties, our two-way trade was less than $2.5 billion. Last year, it reached $446.6 billion, representing an increase of more than 180 folds. At the current growth rate, it is expected to exceed $500 billion this year. China and the United States have long become each other's second largest trading partners. For 10 years running, China has been one of the fastest growing export markets for the United States. It is the biggest market for American agricultural exports and an important market for American machinery and electronic products such as automobiles and aircraft. In 2011, the United States exported $23.3 billion worth of agricultural products to China. It means that on average, each American farm sold to China more than $10,000 worth of farm produce, and each American farmer, nearly $4,000.

Two-way contracted investment between China and the United States is now approaching $170 billion. There are over 60,000 U.S.-invested projects in China and their total sales revenue reached $223.2 billion in 2010. A survey by AmCham-China last year shows that in 2010, 85 percent of U.S.-invested companies in China saw their revenue grow and 41 percent of them had a profitability higher than their global average. At the same time, Chinese companies are getting increasingly enthusiastic about investing in the United States. Over 1,600 companies have been established in the United States through direct Chinese investment, and they cover manufacturing, wholesale and retail, business services, finance, R&D services, geological prospecting and so on. It is gratifying to see the strong momentum of such investment activities.