（Tacoma, July 19, 2024）

Chair Capua,
President Garrett，
Chair Emeritus Lopez,
President Yang Wanming,
Vice Chair Zhang Shuping,
Vice Chair Peng Lin,
Vice Chair Li Xingwang,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Friends,

It is a great pleasure to join you at the Sixth China-U.S. Sister Cities Summit. This event is of unique importance. It is the first national, comprehensive event on China-U.S. subnational exchanges held in the United States in five years. It also coincides with the tenth anniversary of the first China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference, and the 30th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between the host city Tacoma and Fuzhou. 

In 1994, with the personal commitment of then Party Secretary of Fuzhou Mr. Xi Jinping, Fuzhou and Tacoma became sister cities. In 2015, President Xi made a special trip to Lincoln High School in Tacoma during his visit to the United States. I believe many of you still remember the heartwarming moment when students from both countries sang together “In the Fields of Hope” and “What a Wonderful World”. Earlier this month, a delegation of middle school students from Tacoma visited Fuzhou, writing a new chapter in the friendship between our two peoples, and also showing the vitality of our sister-city cooperation.

As President Xi Jinping pointed out, “The hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels.” Sister-city relationships have flourished since our two countries established diplomatic ties. In 1979, Hubei Province and the State of Ohio became the first pair of sister province/state, and Nanjing and St. Louis forged the first sister-city relationship, marking the start of friendly exchanges at subnational levels. Over the past 45 years, more and more sister-city relationships have been developed, and the bonds of friendship further strengthened. Today, we have 286 pairs of sister provinces/states and sister cities. Serving as bridges for mutual understanding and trust, they have nurtured goodwill between the two peoples, and injected vigor into China-U.S. relations. 

Dear friends,

The China-U.S. relationship is still facing grave challenges. We need to pool strength from all to get the relationship better. The closer subnational exchanges and cooperation are, the more solid the popular foundation for China-U.S. relations will be, and the greater room we will have for taking this relationship forward. As we celebrate the 45th anniversary of China-U.S. diplomatic ties this year, we count on all of you to continue participating in and supporting sister-city cooperation, and make greater contribution to turning the San Francisco vision into reality and ensuring the stable, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations.   

First, we need to seize new opportunities for openness and cooperation. Mr. Rick Snyder, former Governor of the State of Michigan, has visited China eight times, more than any other governors in the United States. With the visits, he brought back Chinese investment of $1.2 billion and more than 6,300 jobs for the state. Today, China is the top export market for three U.S. states, in the top three markets for 32, and in the top five for 43. Such subnational cooperation is mutually beneficial and has yielded fruitful outcomes. 

Earlier this week, China held the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee in Beijing, sending a strong message of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization. I encourage all of you to seize the historical opportunities unleashed by China’s openness and development, tap the huge potential of our subnational cooperation based on complementarity, and promote common development for the well-being of our peoples.

Second, we need to address new challenges facing subnational exchanges. In recent years, the so-called “political correctness” of being tough on China has been spreading in the United States, casting a chilling effect on sister-city cooperation and subnational interactions. But the friendship between our two peoples is deeply rooted in our long history of exchanges. Neither setbacks in bilateral relations nor headwinds against people-to-people connections will ever change the fundamental wish of our peoples for friendship and cooperation. 

Since the start of last year, over 10 subnational delegations from the United States have travelled to China, and more than 30 delegations from Chinese provinces and cities have visited the United States. All these have helped to stabilize the China-U.S. relationship. We expect to see more visits, contacts and exchanges, so that drop by drop, we can thaw the ice of misunderstanding, and ultimately form a vast ocean of friendship between our two peoples.

Third, we need to add new dimensions to sister-city relationships. From trade in agricultural products like soybeans and lobsters, to subnational climate action for green and low-carbon growth, and to smart city building and the innovation economy, sister-city cooperation is happening on diverse platforms and in increasing areas. We hope our sister cities will further enrich their cooperation in more forms. For instance, they are most welcome to be part of President Xi’s initiative of inviting 50,000 American teenagers to China for exchanges or study in the next five years, to explore cooperation between the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York Bay Area, and between the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Mississippi River area, and to hold events such as the China-U.S. Agriculture Roundtable and the China-U.S. Bay to Bay Dialogue. In this way, we can further expand and grow our sister-city relationships.

Dear friends,

The theme of this summit is “Shared Visions for a Brighter Future”. It is the shared mission of local governments in both China and the United States to create more jobs and boost the economy, and to better serve the people and improve their lives. A brighter future for the 1.7 billion people of our two countries cannot be achieved without a healthy and stable China-U.S. relationship. It is our sincere hope that our sister-city relationships will continue to be a fountain of strength giving strong and sustained impetus to the broader bilateral relationship, so as to keep it surging forward.

Thank you.