The following is a speech made by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies on March 12:

I want to thank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the US-China Business Council (USCBC) for hosting this event. It is a real pleasure to meet friends, both old and new, here. Over the years, the CSIS and the USCBC have stood at the forefront of China-US exchanges and worked hard to promote mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation between people of our two countries. And all of you present have done a great deal to push forward our relations. Let me take this opportunity to pay tribute and express sincere thanks to you for your efforts.

We are now in early spring. There is an old Chinese saying which goes, "A year's success starts from work in spring." It means that plowing and sowing in spring is crucial to agricultural production and harvest of the whole year.