Ｆｏｒｍｅｒ Ｕ．Ｓ． Ｓｅｎａｔｏｒ Ｊｏｈｎ Ｅｄｗａｒｄｓ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

At the invitation of the CPAFFC， former US Senator John Edwards and Steve Orlins， president of the National Committee on US-China Relations，paid a visit to Beijing from October 17 to 19， 2006.

General Cao Gangchuan， vice chairman of the Central Military Commission， state councillor and defence minister， had a courtesy meeting with them. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing， Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai， Minister of Education Zhou Ji， Vice Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration Pan Yue met with them respectively. Xu Kuangdi， vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference， and Chen Haosu， CPAFFC president， co-hosted a banquet in their honour. This was John Edwards’ first visit to China aiming at knowing about China’s national conditions and its policies on foreign affairs， defence， education and environmental protection.

In his meeting with them， General Cao Gangchuan said， the current Sino-US relations， on the whole， are developing well. The two countries have kept effective consultation and coordination in various areas， particularly in such important international and regional issues as the situation in the Korean Peninsula， Iran’s nuclear issue， and the situation in the Middle East. Cao said， the Chinese Government now concentrates its main energy on economic construction， and China’s defensive national defence policy determines that China will never seek hegemony， nor establish overseas military bases. In line with this policy， China will work hard to build an armed force to defend the country’s independence， security and reunification. Cao said， in the past 3 years， ministers of defence have visited each other; military personnel at various levels and military academies of the two countries have carried out exchanges. Recently， the navy of the two countries had a joint military manoeuver. Currently， the military relations between the two countries keep a good momentum， but there also exist some problems.

In his meeting with them， Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said， China and the DPRK are neighbours. China more than any other countries hopes to realize denuclearization， peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The Chinese side has stated clearly its stance on the DPRK’s nuclear tests， hoping that every side keeps calm and restrained and prevents the situation from worsening. Now the United States and the DPRK have held direct talks to resolve the problems that the two sides are concerned about through dialogue and consultation. This is the best way to solve the problem. Minister Li also briefed the guests about the conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization， saying that the Organization that sticks to the principle of non alignment， non-confrontation and not directing to the third country will not pose any threats against the United States.

In his meeting with them， Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said， though there are some contradictions between China and the United States in the economic and trade fields， the two countries with strong economic complementarity are bound to be important trade partners.China indeed has a large surplus in its trade with the United States， but most of the profits are gained by multinational corporations， and the American wholesale and retail dealers. What China gains is only 10 percent of the total profits. Minister Bo also briefed the guests about China’s efforts to solve the problem of unbalanced development between the cities and the countryside and between the country’s eastern and western regions.

Minister of Education Zhou Ji said， China lags far behind the United States in the aspects of environment and resources and has a huge population. The key to turning population burden into the advantage of human resources lies in education. At the present stage， educational resources are mainly concentrated in cities and the eastern region. In recent years， the Ministry of Education has focused its efforts on improving the conditions for running schools and the quality of teachers in the rural area， particularly in the western region and taken measures to set up boarding schools and carry out long-distance education. Our endeavour has achieved good results.

Pan Yue， vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration， said to the guests， since reform and opening up， China’s economic development has scored great achievements， but at the same time caused serious environmental problems. The public have weak awareness of the importance of environmental protection and do not fully understand the relationship between environment and economic development. Now the Chinese Government has realized the seriousness of the problem and has taken measures， advocating conservation of energy and efficient utilization of energy， while at the same time vigorously trying to develop new energy.