State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met US President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary John Snow in Washington on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of Sino-US relations and looking ahead to President Hu Jintao's visit later this year.

In his meeting with Rice, he said China and the US increasingly have common interests, and their relationship would continue to grow as long as they increased dialogue, built mutual trust, promoted cooperation and handled differences properly.

In an address to the National Committee on US-China Relations and US-China Business Council the same day, Tang said the handling of the Taiwan issue was "key to a stable and growing relationship between China and the United States."

During his meeting with Tang in the White House, Bush said he looked forward to meeting Hu.

Tang delivered a letter from Hu to Bush, and said it is in the interests of both countries to further develop relations and that the visits would contribute to peace, stability and development in the Asia Pacific region and the world.

(China Daily July 29, 2005)