Progress in ties beneficial, Yang tells Trump

President Xi Jinping looks forward to meeting again with US President Donald Trump during the G20 Summit in Germany in July and welcomes Trump to make a state visit to China this year, State Councilor Yang Jiechi told Trump while meeting him at the White House last Thursday.

A day later, last Friday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed at a press briefing that Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have accepted an invitation to visit China later this year.

"They have (accepted the invitation)," he said when asked to confirm the report a few days ago. The report said the two will visit China ahead of President Trump's state visit to China at the invitation of President Xi.

China hopes to work with the United States to make sure these high-level exchanges gain fruitful results, Yang said to Trump on Thursday.

Yang also said China hopes to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with the US and continue promoting the healthy and steady development of bilateral ties.

Conveying Xi's greetings to Trump, Yang said bilateral ties have achieved new and important progress under the guidance of the important consensus that the two heads of state reached during their meeting at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April.

Such progress, including reaching agreement on the "early harvest" from the 100-Day Plan - a plan the two presidents agreed to at Mar-a-Lago to bolster bilateral economic ties - has brought tangible benefits to the people of both countries, Yang said.

China is willing to work with the US to maintain high-level exchanges as well as exchanges at other levels and to properly manage differences on the basis of mutual respect, Yang said.

The state councilor was in Washington attending the first round of the China-US Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which opened on Wednesday.

The dialogue is one of four that the two countries agreed to establish during the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Yang said this round of the dialogue was an important step to implement the consensus between Xi and Trump.

Yang also said China highly appreciates the fact that Trump sent delegates from the US government to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held in Beijing in May.

Trump asked Yang to convey his greetings to Xi, and said he was pleased with the progress that bilateral cooperation has achieved since the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Trump also said the US hopes to cooperate with China in projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Speaking of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Trump said the US looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China to achieve the peninsula's denuclearization at an early date.

Yang reiterated China's position on the issue and said China hopes to continue to maintain communication and collaboration with all parties involved, including the US, to make joint eff orts to ease tension on the peninsula and to solve the issueproperly.

Su Xiaohui, a researcher of China's foreign policy at the China Institute of Internationa Studies, said China-US relations have remained stable since the Mar-a-Lago meeting, which was "very successful in setting the tone for bilateral ties".

Fan Jishe, a researcher of China-US ties at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,said China and the US have maintained "close cooperation"on major issues, and they need timely communication to solve or narrow their diff erences.

Meetings between the heads of state of the two countries help guide bilateral ties to develop in a healthy way, Fan said.