Ambassador Zhou,

Distinguished colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Having spent much of my career working to strengthen U.S.-China relations, I am delighted to join all of you in celebrating the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China.

Thirty years ago yesterday, our two governments announced that our nations would establish formal diplomatic relations. We believed that the normalization of relations was in the interest of the American and Chinese peoples and would serve the causes of peace and prosperity in Asia and throughout the world. Suffice it to say, the past three decades have proven us right.

Our relationship has blossomed since 1979. Indeed, today, the state of U.S.-China relations is at a high point. Signs of this flourishing relationship are literally all around us—this beautiful new Chancery building, like our own new Chancery in Beijing, a symbol of how far our relations have come. The principles of openness, optimism, and mutual respect, which formed the foundation of U.S.-China relations, continue to guide to us ever broader and deeper engagement.

President Bush, in particular, had made it a priority of his administration to welcome China’s growth, dynamism, and increasingly active global role. During the past eight years, our nations have established ground-breaking mechanisms to expand cooperation and address concerns about the range of security, political, and economic issues facing our countries. Just yesterday I had the honor of hosting State Councilor Dai Bingguo for the sixth round of our U.S.-China Senior Dialogue. And this year, Treasury Secretary Paulson co-chaired two rounds of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue. Such careful, deliberate cultivation has produced a mature friendship in which we work together on our common interests and talk frankly about our real differences.

This friendship will serve us well in the years ahead. The next 30 years will surely bring us many more challenges, and we look forward to working with an increasingly confident and open China to solve issues of global concern. Our vision for U.S.-China relations in the 21st century is to harness the goodwill of our peoples and to work constructively together and with our partners around the world for the causes of peace, stability, and development. The past three decades saw remarkable progress towards that vision. I have no doubt that the next three will see even more.

Congratulations! Gong Xi, Gong Xi!