Ｆｏｒｍｅｒ ＵＳ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｇｅｏｒｇｅ Ｂｕｓｈ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

Former US President George Bush and his party visited Beijing on October 9， 2003 at the invitation of the CPAFFC. On the afternoon of the same day， President Hu Jintao， Chairman Jiang Zemin of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and Premier Wen Jiabao met with Bush and his party on separate occasions and exchanged views with him on a wide range of issues of common concern.

President Hu Jiantao said， the new generation of Chinese leaders attaches great importance to Sino-US relations and is ready to make joint efforts with the United States to maintain the good growth momentum of Sino-US relations. At present， China and the U. S. are faced with good opportunities for development. The broad common interests the two countries have far exceed their differences and there are broad areas for cooperation. It is important to implement the consensus reached between the people and leaders of the two countries， enhance cooperation， resolve differences through dialogues and remove interference so as to advance the constructive partnership of cooperation.

Chairman Jiang Zemin pointed out， relations between China and the United States， on the whole， are good. Sino-US relations are very important， which is a matter not only concerning China and the United States， but also Asia and the world at large.

Premier Wen Jiabao spoke highly of the contributions Bush had made to promoting Sino-US relations. He held， to maintain the stable and growing Sino-US relations accords with the fundamental interests of the people of China and the U. S. The Chinese side hopes that the US side will cautiously handle the Taiwan issue and avoid turning economic issues of the present into political ones so that they will not interfere with and damage the overall interests of Sino-US relations.

Bush said that the present US-China relations， the most vital bilateral relations of the United States， were good and that he would concern himself with and support the development of US-China relations.