On April 12, US President George W. Bush met in the White House with Vice Premier Wu Yi of the State Council.

Wu first conveyed President Hu's and Premier Wen's greetings to President Bush, for which Bush expressed thanks. Bush also asked Wu to convey his greetings to President Hu and Premier Wen.

Wu said she led a delegation of government officials to Washington was to attend the 17th meeting of China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) and to prepare in the area economy and trade for President Hu's visit to the United States. Thanks to joint efforts of China and the US, this JCCT meeting turned out to be highly productive. It would help alleviate bilateral trade frictions and promote the sound and stable development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The Chinese entrepreneurs that accompanied her during the visit and their US counterparts entered into a large number of commercial contracts or agreements. China also decided at the meeting to resume the import of beef from the United States conditionally.

Bush expressed appreciations to Wu for her active efforts in pushing the 17th JCCT meeting to generate positive results and alleviate bilateral trade frictions, which as he believed is in the common interest of both China and the US.

Wu said President Hu's upcoming visit to the United States will be a milestone in China-US relations, and is of great significance to the long-term and stable development of bilateral relations. China gives top priority to this visit and hope the two countries can make joint efforts to ensure the success of the visit and promote the all-round development of China-US constructive cooperative relationship.

Bush said US-China relations are vital. He was looking forward to President Hu's visit to the US and to exchanging in-depth views with him on bilateral relations and other issues of common interest. He reiterated that his position on the Taiwan question is consistent and firm.

Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, Vice Minister of Commerce Ma Xiuhong and Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei were present at the meeting.