On the afternoon of February 26, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the Great Hall of the People.

Hu said with the joint efforts of both sides, Sino-U.S. relations have achieved important progress in the past year. He hailed frequent bilateral exchanges and spoke positively of the strategic dialogue and strategic economic dialogue between the two nations, highlighting sound momentum in parliamentary exchanges. Hu said the bilateral cooperation in such fields as anti-terrorism, trade, energy and environmental protection, among others, and the international coordination have scored "effective outcomes", hailing improvement and development of relations between the two country's militaries. "The cooperation arena keeps expanding and the strategic significance of the bilateral ties grows higher and higher," he added.

Hu said 2008 was a highly important year for China and the United States. Hu said China would work with the United States to handle the bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic point of view, stick to the overall development of Sino-U.S. constructive cooperative relations, strengthen dialogue and consultation, promote mutual understanding and trust, expand consensus and cooperation, and properly deal with major concerns of each other, especially the Taiwan question. He said China is willing to work with the United States to firmly deter the risky activities of the Taiwan secessionist forces, maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and ensure a sound and stable development of a constructive relationship of cooperation with the United States.

Rice said the two nations shared a solid foundation to foster ties, with fruitful cooperation in bilateral and multilateral areas. She expressed her appreciation to the efforts China had made to resolve international and regional issues, such as in Darfur. The United States hopes to see China continue playing a constructive role in addressing relevant issues and will remain committed to promoting dialogue and cooperation with China in various fields, Rice said.

Rice said that the U.S. side has reiterated its position on the "referendum on UN membership" for many times, and the "referendum" should not be held.

Hu and Rice also exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and other international and regional hotspot issues.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and other officials attended the meeting.