Terry Branstad delivers a speech at the Ambassador's residence in Beijing (Xu Xiangli/People's Daily Online)

Terry Branstad reaffirmed the importance of working with China to solve “pressing, difficult issues,” such as the nuclear threat from North Korea, in his first public appearance as the new US ambassador to China on Wednesday, June 28, in Beijing.

“We recognize this important relationship, the two greatest economic powers in the world,” Branstad said during a photocall and briefing to journalists near his family at the Ambassador's residence in Beijing. “We want to work together to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.”

Expanding trade to increase economic opportunities for people of both countries is also on his agenda, the 70-year-old ambassador added.

“I am really looking forward to travelling throughout China and getting to enjoy the food and the sights, and most importantly the people,” said Branstad.

Branstad’s remarks echoed the video message he delivered days ahead of his arrival on Tuesday. He stressed that “a strong US-China relationship can contribute to solutions,” and resolving the bilateral trade imbalance, stopping the threat posed by North Korea, and expanding people-to-people ties will be his top priorities.

Branstad first traveled to China in 1984, not long after he became the governor of the state of Iowa. The following year, Branstad hosted then local Party Secretary Xi Jinping on his first visit to the United States.

When Xi visited the US in 2012 as China’s vice president, he went to Iowa to visit the people who hosted him in 1985, people he referred to as “old friends,” including Branstad.

The long-serving Governor of Iowa, who Trump said would be a prime candidate to take care of China, accepted the nomination to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China in December 2016.

In his confirmation hearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Branstad told senators that he hopes to use his unique position as an “old friend” of President Xi and a trusted confidant of President Trump to positively influence the US-China relationship.

“More than three decades and five more visits to China later, I now look forward to working with you, the people of China, to build the future of US-China ties,” Branstad said in the video.

In the coming days, Branstad will meet the US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, who is scheduled to visit Beijing and Shanghai later this week, and jointly hold a “prime rib-cutting” ceremony to mark the return of US beef to China since it was banned in 2003.