* Over the years, Xi has personally stayed in close touch with people from all walks of life in the United States through meetings, visits, letters and speeches.
* In November 2023, Xi announced in San Francisco that 50,000 young Americans would be invited to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years. The target was reached in just two and a half years, as young Americans traveled across China, met their Chinese peers and experienced the country's history, culture and development firsthand.
BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- "The foundation of China-U.S. relations lies among the people, the hope is in the people, the future lies in the youth, and the vitality lies in sub-national areas," Chinese President Xi Jinping once said.
For many years, Xi has consistently championed people-to-people friendship between China and the United States, seeking to bring the Chinese and Americans ever closer and rally stronger public support for the two countries to get along.
BRINGING HEARTS CLOSER
China-U.S. relations are widely regarded as the world's most important bilateral relationship. On how the two major countries can deepen cooperation and navigate differences and challenges, Xi has highlighted the vital role of people-to-people friendship and cultural exchanges.
Speaking to the American public, Xi has often stressed, "state-to-state relations ultimately rely on the support of the people and serve the people."
He once used his fingers to form the Chinese character "ren," meaning "person" to illustrate how the Chinese and American people should support each other in Seattle during his state visit to the United States in 2015.
Over the years, Xi has personally stayed in close touch with people from all walks of life in the United States through meetings, visits, letters and speeches.
During his visit to San Francisco in 2023, Xi set aside time to meet with representatives of Americans who had long supported friendship with China. Smiling, he warmly shook hands and exchanged greetings with each of them.
On Monday, just two days ahead of his state visit to the United States, Xi replied to students from 10 U.S. universities who wrote to him after attending youth exchanges in China.
He encouraged the students to join the vast number of young people in both countries in striving to carry forward, uphold, and advance China-U.S. friendly cooperation, and work together to foster mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples.
"The peoples of China and the United States are both great peoples. Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world," Xi once said.
FRIENDSHIP SPANNING DECADES
Over the decades, Xi's encounters with people from across American society have become cherished chapters in the story of friendship between the Chinese and Americans.
Recalling his visit to the Midwestern U.S. state of Iowa 41 years ago, Xi said he was warmly received, and those wonderful memories remain fresh in his mind to this day.
In the spring of 1985, Xi, then a young official, led a delegation to Iowa. During the visit, he spent three days in Muscatine, a city in rural eastern Iowa, where he stayed with local hosts. Through long hours of friendly exchanges, they gained a genuine understanding of the people living across the Pacific.
"You were the first group of Americans I came into contact with," Xi told his Iowa friends in 2012 when visiting Iowa once again as China's vice president. "To me, you are America."
Today, 2911 Bonnie Drive, the place where he stayed, has been turned into a museum and renamed the Sino-U.S. Friendship House, while Muscatine has become a "city of friendship."
For friendship to endure, youth exchanges and educational cooperation matter.
"Young people, full of vitality and dreams, represent the future and hope of China-U.S. relations and of the world," Xi said, describing education as "a bridge linking the people of China and the United States."
In 1993, Xi, then secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, visited Lincoln High School during a trip to Tacoma, the state of Washington, as Fuzhou and Tacoma explored establishing sister-city ties.
Twenty-two years later in 2015, he returned to the school during his state visit to the United States, presenting books on China and table tennis equipment and encouraging students to visit his country for "a more comprehensive and profound understanding of China."
The following year, more than 100 Lincoln students and teachers traveled to China.
In November 2023, Xi announced in San Francisco that 50,000 young Americans would be invited to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years.
The target was reached in just two and a half years, as young Americans traveled across China, met their Chinese peers and experienced the country's history, culture and development firsthand.
BUILDING BRIDGES
"We should build more bridges and pave more roads for people-to-people interactions. We must not erect barriers or create a chilling effect," Xi once said.
Over the years, Xi has worked to expand channels of contact between the two countries, including through exchanges in the business sector.
During his 2015 U.S. visit, he toured companies like Microsoft and Boeing. He has on many occasions met with U.S. business leaders and attended China-U.S. business roundtables and dialogues.
Most recently, in May, Xi met U.S. entrepreneurs accompanying Trump to China. He expressed confidence that U.S. companies would enjoy even broader prospects in China. China's door "will only open wider," he added.
Xi has also emphasized exchanges between the two countries at local levels. He has attended events such as the China-U.S. Governors' Forum and met with U.S. governors on many occasions.
Today, the two countries have 50 pairs of sister provinces and states, and 238 pairs of sister cities. On June 5, such a network brought hundreds of representatives together in San Francisco for the 8th China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference.
The long history of friendship is a shared legacy of the two peoples. At various events, Xi has recounted stories of the Flying Tigers, the Hump route, the Doolittle Raid rescue and Ping-Pong Diplomacy.
He called on the two peoples to carry forward the friendship that "withstood the test of blood and fire," and urged younger generations, in particular, to "draw wisdom and strength from history."
Noting that China-U.S. relations concern the well-being of the over 1.7 billion people of both countries and affect the interests of the over 8 billion people of the world, Xi said both sides should rise up to this historic responsibility.
That view is echoed by Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation.
The United States and China "have a duty to humanity to cooperate," he said.■
