WASHINGTON – On September 28, 2017 local time, China and the United States held the first round of a bilateral Social and People-to-People Dialogue in the US capital, co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Liu said that since 2010, the China-US high-level people-to-people exchange mechanism had yielded promising results, playing a unique role in promoting the development of bilateral ties. In the face of ongoing changes, strengthening people-to-people exchanges was vital to the sound and stable development of bilateral relations. It was now incumbent on both sides to implement the consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, raising people-to-people exchanges and cooperation to a new level, to lay a firm social foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

Liu proposed that, to ensure stable and long-term people-to-people exchanges, the two sides should: focus on the development of their relations over the next 50 years; respect each other’s development path and social system, as well as each other’s sovereignty, security and development interests; promote cooperation and manage and control differences appropriately. Meanwhile, she called for mass participation under the guidance of the two governments, which should provide policy support and platforms for bilateral people-to-people exchanges. She also stressed the need for both countries to give full play to their respective advantages and expand pragmatic cooperation, to benefit peoples on both sides and provide the international community with more public products.

In addition, Liu urged both sides to fully implement the conclusions of the dialogue. In particular, they needed to ensure breakthroughs in educational cooperation; give full play to the role of China-US Joint Commission on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, innovative dialogues and other mechanisms; enhance cooperation in cultural and art areas; and facilitate the establishment of partnerships between medical and healthcare organizations from the two countries, etc.

For his part, Tillerson said the close US-China people-to-people exchanges in recent years had been fruitful, and expressed his country’s willingness to strengthen the role of people-to-people exchanges and fully implement the outcomes of the bilateral dialogue along with China. The United States was eager to expand exchanges and cooperation with China in various social and cultural areas which are significant to US-China ties.

The first round of the China-US Social and People-to-People Dialogue resulted in a joint statement and an action plan which includes more than 130 outcomes.

During the day, Liu, accompanied by US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, also attended a dialogue between youth delegates of the two countries.