Making his first state visit to the United States, Chinese President Hu Jintao, arrived in Seattle, Washington State on Tuesday.

Seattle, the first stop of the Chinese president's four-day US visit, is the commercial, cultural and advanced technology hub of the US Pacific Northwest. It's also a major port for trans-Pacific and Asian trade.

In Seattle, President Hu is meeting local officials and will visit the Microsoft and Boeing facilities. He's also scheduled to give a speech.

In a statement delivered on his arrival in Seattle, Hu said he was delighted to visit at the invitation of US President George W. Bush and he wished to extend, on behalf of the Chinese people, his greetings and best wishes to the American people.

He observed that Washington State and Seattle, known in the US as the Evergreen State and Emerald City, are renowned for their beautiful environments and dynamic economies, had served as important American gateways to China and the rest of Asia.

In recent years, Hu said, economic exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Washington State as well as Seattle had seen rapid expansion, contributing to the overall growth of China-US relations and friendly exchanges between the two countries.

He said China and the US as two great nations, "share broad, common interests, have a solid foundation for cooperation and shoulder joint responsibility for promoting world peace and development."

"A healthy, stable and ever-growing China-US relationship will benefit the two peoples and enhance peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia Pacific and the world at large," said Hu in the statement.

The Chinese president said that thanks to joint efforts by the two countries, the China-US relationship was enjoying the "sound momentum of growth."

"I look forward to meeting with President Bush and exchanging views with him on bilateral relations and major issues having a bearing on our common interests," Hu said. "I will also have extensive contact with the American people to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples."

Hu said he is confident that his visit will boost the growth of the constructive cooperative relationship between China and the US.

On his visit to Seattle and Yale University, President Hu will meet US Congress members, officials, scholars, staff and students, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi explained last Friday.

Yang said President Hu and President Bush and other US leaders would exchange views on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern in a "profound way."

"We hope that Hu's visit will encourage both sides to examine the importance and necessity of developing the Sino-US relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective," he said.

On Wednesday, the Chinese president will leave Seattle for Washington to have talks with President Bush at the White House on Thursday. Hu is scheduled to give a speech at Yale University on Friday.

In recent years China-US relations have, on the whole, maintained a development momentum. The two countries have effectively cooperated in trade, anti-terrorism, law enforcement, nonproliferation, infectious disease control, science and technology, education and several other areas.

The two countries have coordinated their positions in international and regional affairs such as the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear situation, the reconstruction of Iraq and United Nations affairs.

Trade forms an important part of China-US relations. In 2005, bilateral trade between China and the US rose to US$211.63 billion, an increase of more than 86 times that of 1979 when the two countries initially established diplomatic relations.

China has become the third largest trading partner and the fourth largest export market for the US, which in turn, is now China's second largest trading partner, with bilateral trade rising 27.4 percent annually between 2001 and 2005.

To date US companies have invested in nearly 50,000 projects in China with an accumulated actual investment of over US$50 billion and in 2004 US companies recorded sales of more than US$75 billion.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said last week that the goal of Hu's US visit was to enhance exchanges and mutual trust and expand consensus and cooperation so as to jointly promote the China-US relationship.

"I hope and believe that the Chinese president's visit will further boost the development of China-US relations," Liu said.

After concluding his US trip on Friday, President Hu will continue his five-nation tour, which will also take him to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2006)