The China-U.S. phase-one economic and trade agreement has illustrated the ability of both countries to resolve their differences, a Chinese senior diplomat said here Thursday.

"It demonstrates the resilience of this relationship," Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping said at a Spring Festival reception for over 600 Chinese representatives from 10 eastern U.S. states.

The agreement is beneficial not only to China and the United States, but also the whole world, Huang said.

China and the United States formally signed their phase-one economic and trade agreement in Washington on Wednesday, with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. President Donald Trump inking the papers at the White House.

The agreement ranges from expanding bilateral trade in such sectors as agricultural products, manufactured goods, energy, and services, further broadening market access, to enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights.

The two sides also agreed to establish a bilateral mechanism for two-way assessment and dispute settlement, and the United States has pledged to cancel some of its additional tariffs on Chinese products, marking a policy change from hiking to cutting additional tariffs.

A peaceful and harmonious bilateral relationship between China and the United States will make both winners, while a confrontational one will make both losers, Huang said.

"A decoupling of the two countries is utterly unrealistic and is not in the interest of either Chinese or American people," he said.

Huang said China and the U.S. made the right choice to establish diplomatic ties over 40 years ago given the significance of their relationship today.

He said he hopes Chinese communities in the United States would continue to serve as a bridge of friendship between the two countries.

"We should work together to ensure a sound and stable development of China-U.S. ties, which will benefit all overseas Chinese in the United States," he added.