Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held separate talks in New York Monday with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, New Jersey State Governor James McGreevey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.?

 

Wen, who flew in on Sunday on a four-day official visit to the United States, told Kissinger that the China-US relations have forged ahead amid ups and downs since the icy relations between the two nations started to thaw more than 30 years ago. This came only as a result of the unremitting efforts of many far-sighted Americans.

 

Kissinger accompanied former US President Richard Nixon on his ice-breaking visit to China in 1972. Seven years later, the two countries normalized their relations.

 

Wen said he looks forward to exchanging views with US President George W. Bush and other US leaders on China-US relations and working together with them to push the bilateral ties forward.

 

Kissinger said both the United States and China have important influence on world peace and prosperity.

 

During the past 30 years and more, progress of historical significance has been made in the US-China relations, which is in the interests of the two countries and the world at large, he stressed.

 

The ongoing visit of Wen to the United States is of great significance and will certainly give a vital impetus to the development of the China-US relations, he noted.

 

During his talks with McGreevey and Bloomberg, Wen spoke highly of the economic and trade cooperation between China and New Jersey and New York.

 

Earlier in the day, Wen paid a visit to the New York Stock Exchange and rang the opening bell from the balcony overlooking the trading floor. After ringing the bell, he gave a thumbs up to traders on the trading floor amid sounding applause.

 

Wen later visited the site of the World Trade Center twin towers, which were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, and placed a wreath there.

 

The United States is the first leg of Wen's four-nation tour, which will also take him to Canada, Mexico and Ethiopia. Wen left New York late on Monday for Washington, from where he will travel on to the US northeastern port city of Boston on Wednesday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2003)