Shanghai Mayor Meets US Defense SecretaryShanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi met Friday with William Cohen, defense secretary of the United States.Xu said that in 1972, the late US President Richard Nixon and Chinese late Premier Zhou Enlai signed the well-known Sino-US Shanghai Joint Communique just in the hall where they are meeting. Xu said one sentence in the Communique is still fresh in people's mind, which goes that all Chinese people across the Taiwan straits hold that there is only one China in the world. Xu said that people will always cherish the memory of those who have helped lay the foundation for the development of Sino-US relations. Cohen spoke highly of Shanghai's economic achievements, saying it is making a miracle. Cohen stated that the US supports China's accession to the World Trade Organization as soon as possible, which is also the need of US's interests. He is optimistic about US Senate's approval of China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations status (PNTR). He believed that China's prosperity and development have been playing an important role in maintaining peace and stability of the Asian-Pacific region. |
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