Li Zhaoxing, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, told a press conference at the National Press Center on June 12 that Clinton's upcoming visit to China will further promote the relations between the two countries.

Li said that the two sides are working very actively and conscientiously to prepare for the upcoming visit.

"We are sure that... this visit will be yet another very important one in our bilateral ties and will again make great contribution to the further promotion of the relationship between our countries," he told reporters.

Speaking of some congressional critics of China, Li dismissed them as Cold War thinkers.

"After the Cold War, I believe, some of the people... seemed to be nostalgic of the Cold War period. In other words, they found that they still needed an enemy, they still needed a target, so as to justify their Cold War mentality," he noted.

"So because these people were so keen to find an enemy, to find a substitute for the Soviet empire in the past, they had started to look at China, which they should not look at," Li said.

He stressed that China is pursuing a peaceful foreign policy. "China presents no threat to any country, at all."

The ambassador denied U.S. intelligence information that China's nuclear missiles are targeting American cities, saying there's "nothing of the sort that I know of."

Clinton's five-city journey, from June 25 to July 3, will be the first visit to China by an American president in a decade.

The Chinese ambassador said recent events highlight the need for closer U.S.-China consultations, including the tit-for-tat nuclear testing in May by neighboring rivals India and Pakistan, and the Asia financial crisis that has deeply devalued currencies throughout the region.

"Despite the fact that the Cold War is over, the issue of the international stability has yet to be finally resolved," Li said.

"So two countries as important as China and America still have a common responsibility and have a lot to do together," he affirmed.

China recently chaired a Geneva meeting of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which condemned the nuclear tests. Beijing also has agreed not to devalue its currency in order to prevent another wave of financial destabilization.

Speaking of human rights, Li said, "China attaches the greatest possible importance to human rights." He explained that for the Chinese this means providing "the basic rights for people's survival" or feeding the nation's 1.2 billion people.