President Jiang visited the United States at the invitation of his US counterpart, George W. Bush, on Oct. 22-25 and attended the 2002 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held at the Mexican seaside resort of Los Cabos on Saturday and Sunday.

The People's Daily, China's leading newspaper, described the Chinese president's tour as a major diplomatic move on the eve of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Jiang's visit to the United Stated has attracted worldwide attention. US President Bush's special arrangements for a meeting with Jiang at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, reflects the close relationship between the two leaders and reveals the great importance they attach to the Sino-US relations, the editorial said.

During the meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on the development of a constructive and cooperative relationship between the two countries, major international and regional issues, and reached consensus on a series of important issues.

Both leaders emphasized that friendly cooperation between China and the United States on an equal footing is of great significance to the two countries and the world at large.

The two leaders agreed to enhance high-level strategic dialogue and contact between the two countries, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in anti-terrorism in a two-way manner and on the basis of mutual benefit, further promote economic and trade cooperation, resume bilateral military exchanges and hold consultations at vice foreign ministerial level on issues of strategic security, arms control and anti-proliferation, the editorial said.

On the Taiwan question, Jiang expounded on China's basic policies of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems" and emphasized that the splittist activities of the "Taiwan independence" forces constitute the biggest threat to a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue.

He urged the US side to stick to the one-China policy and the three Sino-US communiques and play a constructive role in the peaceful reunification of China.

The article said the US side reiterated that the United States adheres to the one-China policy and the three Sino-US communiques, and opposes the independence of Taiwan.

With regard to the differences existing between China and the United States, Jiang stressed that the two countries should, in the spirit of mutual respect, enhance mutual understanding and expand the range of consensus through dialogue.

A stable development of relations between China and the United States -- the largest developed country and the largest developing country in the world -- is not only in the interests of the peoples of the two countries, but also conducive to world peace, stability and development, the editorial said.

Both history and reality have shown that cooperation benefits the two countries while confrontation harms both. While differences exist between the two countries, they share extensive common interests. A sound Sino-US relationship bring substantial and tangible benefits to both peoples, and constitutes an important factor for maintaining peace in Asia and the world as a whole, it added.

Participants at the 10th annual Economic Leaders' Meeting of the APEC, which was held against the backdrop of sluggish global economic growth and the ongoing new round of WTO negotiations, focused their discussions on the global and Asia-Pacific economic growth, improvement of the global multilateral trading system, implementation of the Shanghai Accord reached last year and anti-terrorism cooperation.

The Chinese president expounded on China's principled stand on how to bring the advantages of APEC into full play and how to carry out extensive cooperation. On ways to cope with the issue of imbalanced development arising from globalization, Jiang put forward important proposals for achieving common development and prosperity. These included sparing no efforts to eliminate the "digital gap" with new economy as the lead and traditional economy as the basis and strengthening the capacity building of developing members in a bid to enhance their global competitiveness and to make them enjoy the benefits of globalization.

Besides, Jiang also delivered an important speech on anti-terrorism, addressed business leaders at the APEC's CEO summit and attended the dialogue meeting with representatives of business consultation councils.

Jiang's speeches were popularly received and China's positions got positive responses and support, the newspaper said.

A leaders' declaration and an anti-terrorism statement were adopted at the end of the informal meeting, which shows the resolve of all members to promote economic development through cooperation and enhance cooperation in anti-terrorism. The new common understanding reached during the meeting serves as a guideline on how to deal with new challenges in international politics and economy.

Since the establishment of APEC in 1989, China has participated in all its activities in the spirit of active participation, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and promoting cooperation. The Chinese president has attended all the 10 informal meetings of APEC leaders, and China has made outstanding contributions to APEC's development.

Jiang's visit, which was a complete success, has a great and far-reaching influence on deepening mutual trust between the top leaders of the two countries, promoting the development of the constructive and cooperative Sino-US relationship, giving further play to the positive role of China in APEC and promoting regional peace and development, the editorial said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2002)