Contacts and exchange of visits between the two peoples have also increased in a broad and in-depth manner. Today, around 120,000 Chinese students are studying in the United States and more than 20,000 American students are studying in China.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) hugs a boy greeting him at Washington, the United States, on Jan. 18, 2011. Hu Jintao landed here Tuesday for a four-day state visit. [Li Xueren/Xinhua]

The two countries have maintained effective coordination on regional hotspot issues such as the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue and South Asia, and on global issues including climate change, the Group of 20, the United Nations reform, and the fight against transnational crimes.

However, the development of Sino-U.S. relations is not always smooth. Issues related to Taiwan, Tibet, RMB exchange rate and trade have become obstacles to the stable and healthy development of the bilateral ties in recent years.

Addressing the Second Lanting Forum in Beijing last Friday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said: "Some of the issues between China and the United States have been there for a long time and are of great importance. The most important and most sensitive of these is the Taiwan issue, an issue that concerns China's core interests of sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the political foundation of China-U.S. relations."

He said that there are also structural issues between China and the United States that are a result of their different social systems, historical and cultural backgrounds and development levels.

"We also have disagreements over specific issues due to diverging interests in certain areas or lack of effective communication and coordination," he said.

All these issues and disagreements need to be "appropriately managed so as to maintain the sustained, sound and steady development of China-U.S. relations," Cui said.

In Washington, President Hu will also meet some members of the U.S. Congress and business leaders.

From Washington, the Chinese leader will travel to Chicago to continue his state visit.

"We have good reason to believe that with the efforts of both sides, President Hu's state visit will forcefully move forward the positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-U.S relationship in the new era," said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang at the luncheon hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Jan. 6.

Hu paid his first state visit to the United States in April 2006.