Jiang, who arrived in Hong Kong earlier Tuesday to attend the Fortune Global Forum scheduled for May 8-10, had cordial and friendly talks with Levin and his colleagues.

Jiang said both China and the United States are influential countries in the world. China is the largest developing country and the United States the biggest developed country. Developing Sino-US relations accords with the common interests of the two peoples and is of vital importance to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.

China highly values the development of Sino-US relations. It Is China's view that Sino-US relations should be dealt with from a strategic and long-term perspective, and the differences between the two countries handled in a proper way, he said.

China and the United States should maintain and develop a healthy and stable bilateral relationship based on the principles of the three Sino-US joint communiques and the norms governing international relations so as to benefit the people of the two countries, Jiang added.

Noting this being the first annual Fortune forum held in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the new century, Jiang said this shows AOL Time Warner attaches importance to Asia, and China in particular.

He added the current forum -- Next Generation Asia -- devoted to discussions on such issues as corporate management, competition advantages, information infrastructure construction and electronic commerce, will be conducive to improving the management level of enterprises in Asia, promoting the development of the Asia economy, and benefiting all the parties concerned in seeking business opportunities.

As for China's economic development, Jiang said the Chinese economy will continue to maintain a comparatively high growth rate and the living standards of the Chinese people will further improve in the next five years.

China's continued reforms and opening-up to the outside world and modernization drive have provided favorable conditions for trade and economic cooperation between China and other countries, the president said, hoping that foreign entrepreneurs could seize the opportunities, increase investment in China and strengthen economic and technological cooperation with China.

Jiang said he was glad that the development of China's western region is being listed as a major topic of the forum. He said implementing the strategy to speed up development in China's mid-west is a major government policy drawn out according to the country's overall situation and geared to the new century.

It is of great significance for gradually narrowing the gap between various regions, promoting a coordinated growth and pushing forward the common prosperity of all nationalities in the country, Jiang said, adding that it is also an important policy for the realization of the third-step objectives of China's modernization drive.

Vice-Premier Qian Qichen and other senior officials from the mainland, as well as Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, were also present at the meeting.

(Xinhua 05/09/2001)