Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in New York in the afternoon of Dec.7 on a four-day state visit to the United States. It is the first time for the Chinese premier to visit the United States since China's new leadership, headed by President Hu Jintao, took office in March this year.

    The following is a chronology of major high-level contacts between China and the United States over recent years.

    On Oct. 19, 2001, Chinese President Jiang Zemin met with US President George W. Bush at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shanghai, China. The two leaders exchanged views in an in-depth way on issues of Sino-US relationship, anti-terrorism, and the maintenance of world peace and security.

    On Feb. 21-22, 2002, US President George W. Bush made an official visit to China. The leaders of the two countries agreed to enhance the high-level strategic dialogues and the contacts of departments at various levels so as to increase mutual trust and understanding. In addition, the two leaders also discussed the international anti-terrorism situation, and agreed to improve consultation and cooperation in order to enrich the communication and cooperation mechanism in the field of anti-terrorism between China and the United States.

    From Feb. 27 to May 3, 2002, the then Chinese Vice President HuJintao made a state visit to the United States. When meeting Hu, President Bush said the United States would follow the one-China policy and abide by the three joint communiques between the two countries.

    On Oct. 22- 25, 2002, the then Chinese President Jiang Zemin made an official visit to the United States at the invitation of President Bush. The two leaders exchanged views in an in-depth way on various issues including the development of Sino-US relationship and international and regional issues of common concern, and reached an important agreement. The two leaders said that the strategic dialogue and contacts between the two countries at the high level were very important, and agreed to go ahead with such contacts.

    On June 1, 2003, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with US President Bush at the French resort of Evian. Bush highly praised China's efforts and achievements in combating SARS. Hu reiterated China's stance on the Taiwan issue. The two leaders said both sides would make efforts for the maintenance of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsular.

    On Oct. 19, Chinese President Hu Jintao met his US counterpart George W. Bush at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Bangkok, Thailand, and reached consensus on promoting all-around development of a constructive and cooperative relationship between the two countries. Bush said that a good relationship with China is very important to the United States. Hu said that China appreciated the US reaffirmation of following the commitment to the three Sino-US joint communiques, and vowing not to support "Taiwan Independence," and hoped the United States would honor its commitments.