The Chinese ambassador to the United States, Zhang Yesui, has met a group of Chinese reporters in the US capital, Washington D.C., a few days ahead of Chinese vice president Xi Jinping's official visit to the country.

Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Zhang Yesui, told the media that at the invitation of U.S Vice President Joe Biden, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is scheduled to pay an official visit to the United States from Feb 13th to 17th. Xi will make the U.S. trip to forge a consensus between the two nations, and to work towards a partnership based on "mutual respect" and "mutual benefit".

Zhang Yesui, Chinese ambassador to the United States, said, "Vice president Xi Jinping's visit to the US is an important high-level interaction between China and the US. The visit aims to reach a consensus between leaders of the two countries, and establish a cooperative partnership between our two nations. Both U.S. and China have attached great importance to the visit and the preparations are going smoothly. I believe that because of the efforts made by both sides, Vice President Xi's visit will achieve great success."

Zhang added that 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of former US President Richard Nixion's visit to China and of the Shanghai Communique. Zhang said on the one hand, the Sino-US relationship remains generally stable, and has made remarkable progress in the past 4 decades. He said on the other hand, there are different views that occur on some issues. But generally speaking, the mutual benefits between the two nations outweigh their differences, and cooperation is the chief characteristics of China's relationship with the U.S.

"The year of US presidential election might cause turbulence to many issues including the Sino-US relationship. And Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to the US is expected to enhance communication, expand cooperation and ensure greater continuity to the close bilateral ties." ZY, CCTV, Washington.