WASHINGTON -- Former US President Jimmy Carter sent his congratulations to Chinese President Xi Jinping on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"I share the same birthday with your great nation, though I am 25 years older," Carter said in his letter.

Carter said that he had witnessed how the Chinese people suffered during much of the early 20th century and how China's transformation into the world's second largest economy lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in the last four decades.

"Rosalynn and I wish you great success in leading China," the former president wrote.

Carter and his wife Rosalynn also wished China "every achievement in its domestic harmony and prosperity and in its contributions to global peace and development."

Carter, who served as the US president from 1977 to 1981, also briefly reviewed the decision he made with the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries, calling the decision "benefitted the US, China and the world."