Ｍａｙｏｒ ｏｆ Ｌｏｓ Ａｎｇｅｌｅｓ Ａｎｔｏｎｉｏ Ｖｉｌｌａｒａｉｇｏｓａ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

At the invitation of the CPAFFC， Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa and his party paid a visit to Beijing， Tianjin， Shanghai and Guangzhou from October 8 to 15， 2006. State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan met with them. Bo Xilai， minister of commerce and Li Xiaolin， vice president of the CPAFFC， met with or entertained them.

State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan Meeting with the Delegation

When meeting with the delegation on October 8， State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan said， China and the United States are major influential countries in the world. The two countries have profound friendship; particularly during the Second World War， the two peoples fought shoulder to shoulder against the common aggressors. After the establishment of diplomatic relations， the cooperation between the two countries has kept a good momentum of development. The Chinese Government has always attached great importance to Sino-US relations. In recent years， bilateral relations， on the whole， have been developing steadily. In April 2006 President Hu Jintao made a successful visit to the United States and reached important consensus with President Bush on promoting all round Sino-US constructive cooperative relations in the 21st century. In July， the heads of state of the two countries had another successful meeting in St. Petersburg， Russia， greatly boosting Sino-US constructive cooperative relations. We should fulfill the consensus reached during the two meetings， and push bilateral relations to a new height. We should properly deal with differences， respect each other and show concern of each other’s interests. In addition， we should continue to increase the converging points of common interests of the two sides so as to further upgrade Sino-US constructive cooperative relations to a new level.

Mayor Villaraigosa said， the aim of their visit was to strengthen contact and promote the development of relations between the two sides in trade， investment and tourism. The more important and long-term goal was to enhance friendship with China and push forward continuous development of Sino-US relations. He fully agreed to Tang’s view on Sino-US relations， saying that in addition to the joint fight against the enemy during the Second World War， the Chinese living in Los Angeles are also an important factor that has pushed bilateral relations forward. Now in Los Angeles there is the most concentrated overseas Chinese community in the U. S.. Many Chinese students are studying in the famous universities in Los Angeles. Shuttling between China and the United States they have played an active role in promoting the development of Sino-US relations.

Mayor Villaraigosa expressed his thanks to the National Tourism Administration of the PRC for approving Los Angeles City to set up the first foreign city’s travel agency in Beijing. He said， the founding of the agency will surely further facilitate the exchanges between Los Angeles and China in the fields of culture， tourism， economy and trade.He held that the United States should loosen its restriction on granting visa to the Chinese and encourage more Chinese to travel and visit the United States so as to promote exchanges between the two peoples in all fields. He also praised China’s excellent preparatory work for the 2008 Olympic Games and said， Los Angeles is preparing to bid for the 2016 Olympic Games， and hopes to learn from Beijing， and that the two sides would carry out more exchanges in the Olympic Games.

Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai Holding Talks with the Delegation

In his talks with Mayor Villaraigosa， Minister Bo said， China， the largest developing country， and the United States， the largest developed country， have broad prospects in trade. Though there are frictions in trade from time to time， they are not the mainstream. The key is to prevent politicalization of economic and trade problems. The two countries should respect and take care of each other’s interests， and through dialogue and friendly consultation on the basis of equality work hard to properly handle differences in the process of expanding mutually beneficial cooperation. So long as the two countries make concerted efforts， they will finally meet each other’s needs， each being the other’s largest market， and become the most important trade partners in the world. Los Angeles has always been ahead in developing relations with China. Los Angeles port has become the first destination port for Chinese export goods. In 2005 the trade volume between China and Los Angeles District accounted for over one third of the total China-US trade. The trade between the two sides has a great potential.

In her talks with Mayor Villaraigosa， CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin mainly briefed about CPAFFC’s positive role in promoting people-to-people exchanges， particularly the exchanges between localities of the two countries. She stressed， understanding and friendship between the people are the basis and precondition for developing state-to-state relations. In the past 52 years since its founding， the CPAFFC has been making unremitting efforts to enhance understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and other countries in the world. In recent years the CPAFFC has intensified its efforts to expand exchanges between localities and parliaments of the two countries. It has invited US state governors， mayors and congressmen and senators to visit China， and also organized Chinese local government officials to visit the United States， greatly enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the localities of the two countries. The CPAFFC has always kept close cooperative relations with California and Los Angeles city and received governors and mayors many times. The fact that Mayor Villaraigosa paid a visit to China shortly after assuming office shows that the Mayor attaches great importance to developing relations with China. The CPAFFC is willing to serve as a bridge between the Chinese departments concerned and Los Angeles.

Signing Agreements on Cooperation with Chinese Cities

The cities the delegation visited all attached great importance to their guests. Mayors or deputy mayors of the four cities personally had working meeting with the delegation. Zhai Hongxiang， executive deputy mayor of Beijing， met with the delegation and signed with Mayor Villaraigosa a memorandum on economic and trade cooperation and exchanges between the two cities and a memorandum on sports cooperation and exchanges. Pi Qiansheng， member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee， and Deputy Mayor Zhi Shenghua met with the delegation and signed an agreement on economic cooperation between the two cities. The Administration Commission of the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the Los Angeles Long Beach World Trade Centre and the Los Angeles Economic Development Administration. Feng Guoqin， executive deputy mayor of Shanghai met with the delegation. The Shanghai Tourism Administration Commission and the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau signed a memorandum on cooperation. Guangzhou， as a friendship city of Los Angeles， made meticulous arrangement for the delegation’s visit. Mayor Zhang Guangning held a banquet in honour of the delegation， and attended the ceremony of signing a memorandum on strengthening economic and trade between the two cities and a memorandum on cooperation between Guangzhou Port and Los Angeles Port. Guangzhou also arranged for the delegation a forum on the economic and trade exchanges between Guangzhou and Los Angeles at which 150 government officials and entrepreneurs of the two cities were present. Deputy Mayor Chen Mingde and Mayor Villaraigosa had an in-depth discusssion on the development of economic and trade relations between the two cities.