Chinese Ambassador Calls for Efforts to Better Sino-US Ties ����Chinese Ambassador to the United States Li Zhaoxing believes that China and the United States should view and handle their relations from a historical height and in a strategic perspective, bear common interests in mind and work together to build a China-US constructive strategic partnership oriented towards the 21st century. ����Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the National Press Club, Ambassador Li stressed that the Sino-US relationship "does matter a lot to all of us, and to the rest of the world." ����China and the United States established diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. In the past decades, the bilateral trade has increased 19 times, from US$ 2.45 billion in 1979 to roughly US$49 billion in 1997. ����The growth of relations gained new momentum when President Jiang Zemin and President Bill Clinton exchanged visits in the past 15 months. The two leaders agreed to strive for a constructive strategic partnership between the two countries. ����Li was optimistic about the future of the China-US relations. However, he stressed, differences remain on some issues. ����He urged the United States to adhere to the guiding principles enshrined in the three Sino-US joint communiques on Taiwan, the most sensitive and important issue concerning bilateral ties, as China believes. ���� WorldNews 1999-01-10 Page2 Full Story in Chinese