China News Agency, Houston, June 4 (Reporter Sha Hanting) Qin Gang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, said when he attended the Dragon Boat Festival Dinner in Houston on the 3rd local time that the overseas Chinese are witnesses and participants in friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the United States. Promoters, facilitators, and play an important role as a bridge and link.
On the same day, Qin Gang visited Houston Chinatown and was warmly welcomed by the local overseas Chinese.
Qin Gang communicated with the overseas Chinese on employment, living conditions, local China-related environment, and the main demands of the overseas Chinese.
Qin Gang also came to Huaxia Chinese School near Chinatown to make dumplings, talk about ideals with the children, and spend the Dragon Boat Festival together.
At the Dragon Boat Festival dinner held by the overseas Chinese community that night, Qin Gang delivered a speech and said that in the history of Sino-US exchanges, Houston is a special place.
28 days after the official establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, then Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping paid a historic visit to the United States, and Houston was an important stop.
Ten months later, the first Chinese consulate in the United States was established in Houston.
For decades, more and more Chinese and Chinese-funded enterprises have come to Texas and other southern regions of the United States, making positive contributions to local development and prosperity.
Qin Gang said that Texas and China have always had close exchanges in various fields such as culture, education, science and technology, but this friendly and cooperative situation was destroyed by an unpredictable disaster.
In July 2020, the U.S. flagrantly closed the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, which seriously damaged Sino-U.S. relations and seriously affected the normal exchanges and cooperation between the southern states of the United States and China.
Qin Gang said that this trip was his first visit to Texas since he took office, and it was also the first visit by a high-level Chinese official delegation in the past two years since the Chinese Consulate General in Houston was forced to close.
This trip made him deeply feel that Texas has strong economic strength and huge development potential. The people of Texas have friendly feelings towards China, hope that China-US relations will improve as soon as possible, and hope to resume exchanges and cooperation with China.
Qin Gang emphasized that this trip made him firmly believe that the foundation of Sino-US relations lies in the people, and he hopes that there will be broad prospects for exchanges and cooperation between China and Texas.
Qin Gang also said that the overseas Chinese living in Texas have made important contributions to the local development and prosperity, and also played an important role as a bridge and link for Sino-US relations.
Qin Gang hopes that the overseas Chinese in Texas will continue to vigorously support the construction, development and reunification of the ancestral (home) country, unite and forge ahead, integrate into the local area, speak out bravely, safeguard their own rights and interests, and make greater contributions to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the friendly exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States. .
Qin Gang also said that although the Chinese consulate general in Houston was forced to close, there is still a Chinese embassy in the United States.
The Chinese embassy in the United States will, as always, firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of overseas Chinese and serve the overseas Chinese wholeheartedly.
Representatives of the overseas Chinese community in Houston expressed their hope that the U.S. government would listen to the voices of people from all walks of life in the United States, including the vast majority of Chinese, to push China-U.S. relations back to a healthy development track as soon as possible, and look forward to the day when the consulate general in Houston reopens soon.
That night, Houston Mayor Turner, who was attending the annual meeting of mayors in the United States, sent a representative to read out his letter to Qin Gang on the spot.
Turner said in the letter that the close ties between Houston and China have fostered many successful business events and cultural exchanges, and hoped that the visit will further promote the development of U.S.-China cooperation and trade relations.
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