On the morning of February 22, 2002, Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council met with visiting U.S. President George W. Bush at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Extending welcome to Bush, Zhu said that President Jiang Zemin and President Bush had a fruitful meeting yesterday and reached many important common understandings, adding that the meeting will exert far-reaching influence on the development of constructive and cooperative relations between China and the United States.

Zhu noted that Bush's visit is of great significance at a time when China and the United States are commemorating the 30th anniversary of former U.S. President Nixon's visit to China and the issuance of Sino-U.S. Shanghai Communiqué. He said that Sino-U.S. relations have traveled on a bumpy path but have been making progress as a whole over the past 30 years. He went on to say that history shows that there do exist differences of this sort or that between China and the United States, but the two countries have more extensive and important common interests and can do a lot of things together. He added that a good China-U.S. relationship is favorable to the two countries and the world. He noted that since the Shanghai meeting between the two heads of states, bilateral ties have shown a good momentum of development, saying that China is ready to work together with the United States to bring about a sound and steady development of Sino-U.S. relations.

Bush said that his visit to China is very successful, and that he had constructive and fruitful talks with President Jiang Zemin yesterday. He noted that he had visited Beijing in 1975 and that on the current visit he felt like entering a brand new country, saying that China is developing rapidly and the changes are very impressive. He said that the United States attaches great importance to cooperation with China in various fields.

Zhu pointed out that the Taiwan question is the most sensitive issue at the core of Sino-U.S. relations and explained the principled position of the Chinese government of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems." Bush reiterated that the United States observes the One China policy and hopes for a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question, adding that such a stand is consistent and will not change.

The two sides also exchanged views on economic and trade cooperation between the two countries as well as on the economy in Asia. Zhu briefed President Bush on the economic situation in China, noting that the world economy has shown some sign of recovery, but factors threatening world's economic growth are still on the rise. He expressed the hope that the economic and financial situation in the Asia-Pacific region will remain stable.

Bush said that the Asian economy is facing difficulty but China's economy is developing soundly and rapidly, adding that this is extremely important to the American economy and favorable to economic recovery and growth in the Asia-Pacific region.