China, U.S. hold first high-level dialogue of political parties
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China and the United States held the first high-level dialogue between their main political parties in Beijing Wednesday.
Senior Chinese officials and representatives of a delegation of the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties took part.
Addressing the dialogue, Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said the political parties and statesmen of China and the United States should transcend differences of ideology, social systems and cultural traditions and abandon prejudice, so as to continuously strengthen strategic mutual trust and promote the healthy, stable, and long-term development of bilateral ties.
To build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-U.S. relationship for the 21st century, it was important for both sides to deal with bilateral ties from a strategic and long-term perspective, respect each other's roads of development, take each other's core interests and major concerns into consideration and avoid repeated disturbances and harm to cooperation, said Wang.
Wang also introduced China's party system, the CPC's governance theory and expounded China's position on China-U.S. relations and related international affairs.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the regular exchange mechanism of the U.S. and Chinese political parties had created more channels for bilateral dialogue.
She also expressed the wish to enhance the understanding of the CPC through the dialogue.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Williamson said the political parties of various countries were confronted with similar issues and undertaking similar tasks in promoting national prosperity in spite of the differences of their governance theories.
At the invitation of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, a delegation with 18 representatives from the U.S. parties are visiting China from March 30 to April 3.
