Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng speaks at the opening ceremony of the sixth China-U.S. Sister Cities Summit via video link on Friday. The two-day meeting in Tacoma, Washington was attended by nearly 300 participants. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Locality exchanges between China and the United States can help stabilize bilateral relations by addressing the challenges and opportunities ahead, participants at the sixth U.S.-China Sister Cities Summit said.

The two-day summit on Friday and Saturday, themed "Shared Visions for a Brighter Future", was co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, or CPAFFC, and Sister Cities International, or SCI, of the United States.

Featuring keynote addresses, panel discussions and case studies, the summit brought together more than 300 representatives from 14 Chinese provinces and 21 U.S. states.

Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng, who delivered remarks at the opening ceremony via video, said that sister cities serving as bridges for mutual understanding and trust have injected vigor into China-U.S. relations.

In 1979, Hubei province and the state of Ohio became the first sister province/state, and Nanjing and St. Louis, Missouri, forged the first sister-city relationship, marking the start of friendly exchanges at the locality level.

Forty-five years later, China and the U.S. have produced 286 pairs of sister relationships at different levels.

Xie said the bilateral relationship is still facing "grave challenges" and encouraged joint efforts to improve the relationship.

"As China and the United States celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, it is hoped that all participants will continue participating in and supporting sister-city cooperation and make greater contributions to turning the San Francisco vision into reality and ensuring the stable, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations," he said.

The envoy encouraged the participants to seize the historical opportunities unleashed by China's openness and development, tap the large potential of China-U.S. subnational cooperation based on complementarity, and promote common development for the wellbeing of the two peoples.

U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns also gave congratulations at the summit.

"Sister cities' relationships spur investment, expand exchanges in education and culture and encourage people to learn more about their counterpart cities through tourism," said Burns. He said that "it is heartening" that so many Americans and Chinese are gathering in Tacoma for 'reinvigorating and expanding the people-to-people connections".

"Sister provinces/states and sister cities are important platforms for promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the people of China and the United States and important windows for deepening exchanges and cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win results," said Yang Wanming, president of the CPAFFC, at the summit.

Symbol of friendship

"The city of Tacoma and the state of Washington are the symbol of friendship between the people of China and the United States."

Tacoma, a port city about 50 miles southwest of Seattle, was an important witness to China-U.S. friendship.

In 1994, with the personal commitment of President Xi Jinping, then Party secretary of Fuzhou, the Chinese city and Tacoma became sister cities. In 2015, President Xi made a special trip to Lincoln High School in Tacoma during his U.S. visit.

Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, who returned from a trip to China two weeks ago, said her delegation visited many Chinese cities, including Fuzhou in Fujian province and Ningbo in Zhejiang province.

Woodards said she was excited to welcome the same people she recently met in China.

"I truly believe that if we work together to address the challenges and opportunities ahead, we can create a bright and prosperous future for all our communities," she said.

Joe Vinatieri, mayor of Whittier, a city in Southern California, expressed his excitement about participating in the summit in a post on Facebook.

"I'm excited to speak at this week's 6th U.S.-China Sister Cities Summit about the benefits of Whittier's partnership with Changshu (Jiangsu province), which aims to foster economic development, cultural exchange, and cooperation between both cities," he wrote.

Tourism from China has declined since COVID-19, and interactions have dwindled.

"We want to encourage people to come. We haven't done anything with them recently," Vinatieri said. "I want to see what we can do to reestablish the relationship and have them come over here."

In March, Jesse Armendarez, a member of the Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino County, California, visited Wuxi, Jiangsu province, for the second time.

He was there to celebrate Wuxi International Month and to establish a sister-city relationship.

"Our friendship cities with China and San Bernardino County have been vital to helping us promote business, education and culture," Armendarez told China Daily.