LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22 -- A reception was held on Saturday evening by the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Addressing the reception, which was attended by over 700 people, Consul General Zhang Ping said that over the past seven decades, China has achieved remarkable progress with profound changes made at home, becoming the world's second largest economy.

Playing a bigger role, China is making important contribution to world peace and development, according to him.

The relations between China and the Unites States are currently at a critical juncture, Zhang said, and cooperation for mutual benefit is the only choice.

"We shall not let differences and disputes define the China-U.S. relationship, nor shall we let prejudice and misjudgment dictate its future," he noted.

Zhang called for joint efforts to advance China-U.S. relations featuring coordination, cooperation and stability, maintain its right direction, properly manage differences on the basis of mutual respect and expand cooperation for mutual benefit.

U.S. congresswoman Judy Chu commended China's economic miracle that lifted some 800 million people out of poverty in just four decades.

She said a trade war between the United States and China is harmful to both sides and threatens the important relationship between them.

"We need to work together, we need to build connections and commonalities, we know that the U.S. and China have so much more to gain through cooperation than competition, our futures depend on it," said the Representative from California.

Chu is also the first Chinese American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

"I salute China for these remarkable achievements in such a short period of time," said congressman Mark Takano from California. "Part of that achievement was also born of the tremendous relationship (that has) began 40 years ago between the United States and the People's Republic of China."

A photo exhibition was also held at the reception, with some of the pictures demonstrating the development of China-U.S. relations in the past decades.