On Sep. 22, 2010, local time, Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council attended the grand welcome dinner hosted by American friendly groups in New York and delivered a speech titled Joining Hands to Create a Bright Future for China-U.S. Relations in the New Era.

Premier Wen said that over the past decade China-U.S. relations have witnessed steady improvement and constant development and the two countries have helped each other in hard times. President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama jointly identified a positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-U.S. relationship for the 21st century and a China-U.S. partnership to address common challenges and pointed out the direction for the development of China-U.S. relationship in the new era. China-U.S. relationship is not always easy, but dialogue and cooperation have always been the mainstream of the bilateral relationship. The two countries are not competitors, but partners. Cooperation benefits both sides while confrontation results in harms, and mutual trust brings progress while suspicion causes setbacks.

Wen said the basic fact that China is still a developing country remains unchanged. China's basic national policy of reform and opening up has not changed and will never change. China will unswervingly follow the long-term standing policy of peaceful development.

Wen said that in the current new situation, the common interest of China and the U.S. is closely integrated and the mutual demands between the two countries are increasing. The friendly exchanges between the two people continue to deepen. “For the noble cause of world peace and development and for the long-term well-being of the people of both countries, we have a responsibility to ensure that China-U.S. relations will always move along the path of positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship. To this end, the two countries need to enhance strategic mutual trust, respect each other's interest, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and expand non-governmental exchanges.”

Wen concluded that as long as the two sides have the indomitable spirit, the perseverance and the will, any difficulty or obstacle cannot stop the trend of China-U.S. relations from moving forward.

Wen's speech won warm applause from the audience. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Chair of National Committee on United States-China Relations Carla A. Hills, Chair of the United States-China Business Council Muhtar Kent also spoke at the dinner. They said that U.S.-China cooperation is very important and bilateral relations have witnessed great progress in recent years. Contradictions and differences are inevitable in the development course of bilateral relations. The two sides should respect each other, have consultations on an equal footing, and properly address differences. They were optimistic about the prospects of U.S.-China relations.

Wen also answered questions from the audience.