In 1784, just eight years after the founding of the United States, the US merchant ship Empress of China called at Guangzhou, marking the beginning of people-to-people exchanges between China and the US. More than 60 years ago, China and America fought shoulder-to-shoulder in the anti-fascist war, forging a deep friendship. People-to-people exchanges have since helped to grow our bilateral relations.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and I will co-chair the fourth China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange in Washington, D.C. It aims to implement the important agreement President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama reached in June on building a new model of major-country relationships between China and the US.

The key to sound relations between countries lies in the amity between their peoples based on mutual understanding. Sincere people-to-people exchanges can rise above differences in history, culture and social system to give a strong boost to relations between nations.