At the invitation of Furman University, DCM &Minister Xie Feng attended an International Conference on China's Global Rise at Furman University in Greenville, the State of South Carolina from April 7 through 8. The Deputy Chief of Mission delivered a keynote speech to an audience of about six hundred people including Mr. Richard Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education, Mr. Knox White, Mayor of the city of Greenville, Mr. David Shi, President of Furman University and representatives of local business and educational communities as well as the University students and the public.

The Deputy Chief of Mission briefed his audience on the great achievements in economic, political, social, cultural, scientific and educational undertakings since China's reform and opening up thirty years ago. Minister Xie stressed that China's reform and opening-up is still an ongoing process. The road is long before China achieves peaceful development. It will take generations to complete modernization. Minister Xie explained the central philosophy and basic propositions of China's foreign policy and stated that China is committed to pursuing peace and development through cooperation and expanding common ground with other countries for mutual benefits.

Minister Xie recalled the significant progress of the China-US relations over the past thirty years. He pointed out that the China-US relationship is one of the most dynamic and important bilateral relations in today's world. Since the Obama administration came to office, the China-US relations have had a good beginning. The first summit meeting between the two Presidents in London was a success. The two sides have agreed to work together to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-US relationship for the 21st century and reached important agreement to establish the Strategic and Economic Dialogue mechanism and strengthen exchanges, coordination and cooperation in coping with the financial crisis and in other areas. President Obama will visit China in the latter half of this year at the invitation of President Hu Jintao. The Chinese side will work together with the US side to earnestly implement the agreement reached between the two Presidents, ensure the correct direction of the bilateral ties and strive for further growth of the relationship along the track of positive, cooperative and comprehensive development.

Minister Xie spoke about China's positive efforts to address the international financial crisis since its outbreak. He said that China will try its best to ensure continued steady and rapid economic growth in China and at the same time, China hopes that the US economy will emerge from the crisis and recover as soon as possible. China and the United States have had effective coordination and cooperation which have proven useful in preventing the drastic deterioration of the situation. Under the current circumstances, the Chinese side is prepared to continue to strengthen macro economic coordination with the US side to jointly oppose trade protectionism and deepen cooperation in business, trade and investment. Meeting the challenge of the crisis together represents the top priority of cooperation between the two countries in the coming period.

After the speech, Minister Xie took questions from the audience concerning the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Taiwan, Tibet-related issues, impact of public opinion in China on its foreign policy, China's view on international monetary system, cooperation between China and the US in the field of energy and climate change, the Korean nuclear issue and other major international and regional issues. Before the speech, Minister Xie had meeting with Mayor White of Greenville and exchanged views with him on strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and South Carolina, and Greenville in particular. Minister Xie also had interview with local newspapers and TV, including the Greenville News, the South Carolina Business News and the Greenville Journal.