BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The 12th China-U.S. Political Party Leaders Dialogue was held from Monday to Tuesday via video link.
Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the dialogue. He said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had recently held a phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart, Joseph R. Biden, mapping out the direction of the development for bilateral ties.
"China and the United States should implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen dialogue, meet each other halfway, and create advantages for the relationship between the two countries returning to the right track of stable development," said Song.
Song said that the dialogue is conducive to enhancing communication, understanding, and mutual trust.
"We are willing to work with the Democratic and Republican parties of the United States to give full play to the political leading role of political parties in relations between states. We would also like to promote the two sides in strengthening coordination and cooperation based on respecting each other's core interests and major concerns and properly managing differences to provide positive factors to the stable development of bilateral relations," Song said.
Howard Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who is also former Vermont governor, and Carla Hills, former U.S. trade representative as well as former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, attended the dialogue. They both hailed the U.S.-China relationship as the most important bilateral ties globally, and said that the dialogue between political parties of the two countries is a vital part of bilateral ties.
Despite going through some hard times bilaterally, the two countries still share many common interests, they said. They called for more high-level dialogues to increase trust, advance cooperation, promote the two countries' respective development, and jointly tackle global challenges. Enditem
