It is in the interests of the United States to have good, strong dialog with China, said US President George W. Bush Thursday while attending a demonstration of Cummins compressed natural gas (CNG) engines in Beijing.
The engines, produced by Cummins Inc. of the United States, have been installed on more than 1,840 buses in the Chinese capital.
Bush said he had a "very fruitful" discussion on key issues with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, including trade and environmental protection.
He said the US-China relationship is "strong", and China is a great country with great potential.
"It is in our interests that we trade with China. It is in our interests that China adheres to the rules of the World Trade Organization. It is in our national interests that we cooperate with China on the war against terrorism," he said.
The president said that as a Pacific nation, the United States got to have and will maintain good relations with other nations in the region. There is no more important nation than China in the region.
"We will have close dialog with China," he said.
He said in the instance the two countries do not agree, they should resolve it in a respectful way.
"I appreciate this living exhibition as to why trade is positive for the people of America and trade is positive for the people of China," Bush said.
Cummins has invested over US$130 million in China. It now has seven joint ventures and solely-founded manufacturing factories in China.
Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games and the city plans to fuel 90 percent of its buses and 70 percent of its cabs with green energy in five years, bringing the total number of clean-fuel vehicles in the city to 48,000.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2002)
