On September 24, Zhao Long, Secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, met in Fuzhou with James I. Manning, Jr., Senate President Pro Tempore of Oregon, and his delegation. 

On behalf of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and the People’s Government of Fujian Province, Zhao Long welcomed James I. Manning, Jr. and his delegation on their visit to Fujian, and gave a brief overview of Fujian’s high-quality economic and social development. He noted that President Xi Jinping attaches great importance to China-U.S. relations. This May, during President Trump’s state visit to China, President Xi Jinping and President Donald J. Trump agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability. On September 23, at President Trump’s invitation, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the United States. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the giant ship of China-U.S. relationship will surely sail steadily forward, and friendly exchanges between the two countries at the subnational level will also grow from strength to strength in tandem.  

Zhao Long said that Fujian is thoroughly studying and implementing the guiding principles from President Xi Jinping’s important speeches, instructions and directives, and continuing to comprehensively deepen reform, expand high-standard opening up, and advance high-quality development on all fronts. He expressed the hope that, as Fujian and Oregon mark the 42nd anniversary of their sister relationship, both sides will, through platforms such as the “Bond with Kuliang” events, further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in economy, trade, investment, climate governance and people-to-people ties, enhance mutual learning between civilizations, and achieve win-win results. He also hoped that the two sides would take their friendly relations to a higher level and help the people on both sides live a better life. 

James I. Manning, Jr. said that Oregon highly values its traditional friendship with Fujian and looks forward to the two sides continuously building bridges of communication, strengthening people-to-people exchanges, and engaging in close cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, environmental protection, culture, education, agriculture, and forestry, so as to jointly create a bright future, and enable the tree of friendship to thrive. 

Provincial leaders Wu Xielin and Wang Yongli attended the meeting.