Symposium held in honor of first US Congressional trips to China

The two delegations visited various cities and had extensive exchanges with Chinese people and officials. When returning to the US, they reported their visits to the US President and Congress, expressing firm support for the development of Sino-US relations.

In Mansfield's report to the Senate, titled "Journey to the New China", he said he was more than ever persuaded President Nixon's visit to China was the right action.

Deena Mansour, executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, said she believed Mansfield's legacy, which was committed to "truth, tolerance, and universal human values" would transcend the current political and ideological differences between the US and China.

Noting the two countries are entering one of the most challenging times, she said the two sides need to seek cooperation and peace to jointly tackle great challenges facing the world today, such as climate change and global health.

As the China-US relationship is at a historical juncture, Wang Chao, president of the CPIFA, said the two countries need to enhance engagement and exchanges to bolster mutual understanding and trust.

US Senator Steve Daines said relations between the two largest economies are "too big to fail", while Representative Rick Larsen expressed willingness to build a greater understanding through people-to-people ties in the spirit of the Mansfield-Scott delegation.

Bipartisan visits to China demonstrated Washington's extensive support to the normalization of the relations between China and the US, which carried historical significance, said Cui Tiankai, former Chinese ambassador to the US.

The older generation of politicians showed the world that despite huge differences, China and the US could achieve peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation so long as the two sides respect their differences and proceed from fundamental interests and shared aspirations of peoples in the two nations, Cui added.