Vice-president calls for Sino-U.S. mutual respect

Vice-President Han Zheng called on Tuesday for Washington to meet Beijing halfway in dealing with bilateral relations based on the principle of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in order to bring the countries' ties back to the right track of healthy and stable development.

He made the remarks during a meeting in Beijing with former United States' Treasury secretary Henry Paulson.

Han said that China-U.S. relations are the most important bilateral relationship in the world, and the two countries should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, jointly promote global economic recovery and address global challenges.

China has always viewed and handled China-U.S. relations in accordance with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping, he said.

He urged the U.S. to take a similar approach to bring bilateral ties, which have worsened in the past years, to the right track of healthy and stable development.

During the meeting, Han briefed Paulson about China's economy. He said that since the beginning of this year, China's economy has maintained recovery and is picking up.

The nation will further optimize its economic structure, and deepen reform and opening-up to achieve high-quality development, he said.

More U.S. companies are welcome to invest and do business in China to share the nation's development opportunities, Han added.

Paulson, who served as U.S. Treasury secretary from 2006 to 2009, expressed his confidence in the prospects of China's economic development.

He said that U.S.-China relations are of global significance, and the two countries should maintain communication, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and economic and trade cooperation, and jointly address global challenges such as climate change.

Paulson said he is willing to continue playing an active role in promoting the stable development of U.S.-China relations.

On Tuesday, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, also met with Paulson in Beijing, and urged Washington to resume a rational and pragmatic policy toward China.