Remarks by Vice President Biden in a Meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao

Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China

4:26 P.M. (Local)

        PRESIDENT HU:  (As translated.)  Honorable Vice President, it is a great pleasure to meet you again in just half a year’s time.  I want to welcome you to pay this official visit to China.

        Mr. Vice President, you’re an old friend of the Chinese people.  You’ve made two previous visits to China, the first one in 1979 and then again in 2001.

        During my visit to the United States this past January, you and Secretary Clinton hosted a welcoming banquet for me, and you gave a warm and a friendly remarks at that occasion.  I wish to express my sincere appreciation for that again.

        Over the last two days, National People’s Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice President Xi Jinping have had very good meetings and talks with you.  You attended a China-U.S. Business Dialogue, and tomorrow you will be visiting Chengdu of Sichuan province.  I believe your current visit will help you have a deeper understanding of China and the Chinese people.

        This visit will also help push forward exchanges and cooperation between our two countries in various fields and make new contribution to the building of a China-U.S. cooperative partnership.

        Now, I’d like to listen to you, Mr. Vice President.

        VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Mr. President, it’s an honor to be here.  I thank you for your time.  Your poor colleagues have had to be in my company and been so nice to me the last two days.  We spent hours together thus far.  Mr. Ambassador, again, thank you.

        To get straight to the point, Mr. President, President Obama asked me to come to Beijing to meet with you and others to reaffirm our absolute, total commitment to a strong and enduring positive relationship with China, and to reaffirm our commitment to stay engaged in the world in the most vigorous way possible.

        I have -- I have made two visits to China, but, Mr. President, in light of President Obama’s request, I expect, with your indulgence, I’ll make many more in the near term.  Your meeting with President Obama made a very strong, positive impression on the American people.  And my meetings here thus far have been extremely helpful to me.  I began to establish a very good relationship with Vice President Xi, and the President and I look forward to working with him, as well as hoping to continue the great legacy you’ve begun in the relationship.

        I must tell you I’m impressed by his raw command of issues, and it has been reassuring.  And, Mr. President, President Obama genuinely looks forward seeing you in Hawaii.  His favorite place in the world is Hawaii.  It’s his home state.

END 4:32 P.M. (Local)