Pelosi Remarks Before Meeting With Chairman Wu Bangguo of the National People's Congress of China

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a brief press availability this morning with Chairman Wu Bangguo of the National People's Congress of China before their meeting in the Capitol. Below are their remarks:

Speaker Pelosi.Good morning. It is an honor to welcome the Chairman of the National People's Congress, Chairman Wu Bangguo, to the Capitol of the United States.

In May, I had the privilege of visiting China at the invitation of the Chairman and now he has accepted our invitation to visit here. When I was in China, I had the opportunity to see so much of what China has done to address the global climate crisis. That was the purpose of our visit - the main purpose of our visit was to discuss that issue. It's clear that the world can learn a lot - a great deal from what China is doing. Hopefully, we can learn from each other.

Since our visit, Congress has passed our climate change energy bill and we're waiting action by the Senate. On the occasion of the Chairman's visit, we will be discussing this issue as well as other issues - the economic crisis that the globe is in and hopefully how we can address that and, of course, always the issue of human rights.

But on the subject of climate change, as we approach Copenhagen, it is important for China and the United States to come to some understanding - our countries are great, they are significant and large, and their decisions affect the whole world.

The U.S.-China relationship is a very important one - economically, culturally, politically, environmentally - to both of our countries and, again, to the world.

So in anticipation of continuing our lively discussions, I'm pleased to welcome on behalf of all of the Members of Congress, the Chairman of the National People's Congress to the Capitol of the United States.

Chairman Wu Bangguo. It is a great pleasure to meet the media friends. In May this year, Speaker Pelosi made a very successful visit to China. I am now paying a return visit to the U.S. on the invitation of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This is the first visit undertaken by the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in the past 20 years to the United States. So we are visiting the United States at the invitation of Speaker Pelosi.

The purpose of my visiting the United States is to further grow the relationship between our two countries. China-U.S. relationship is at a very good stage. Our bilateral relationship is the most important, most dynamic, and most potential bilateral relationship in the world. And when it comes to the economic crisis in the world, we are an important part in it. Or when it comes to finding solutions to the regional parts of issues. Or when it comes to the international challenges of climate change. In our nation's view, China and the United States share extensive common interests. And both countries shoulder their great responsibility in this regard.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Speaker Pelosi for making meticulous arrangements for our delegation. Besides meeting friends from this Congress, we are going to meet with President Obama and Vice President Biden. I'm sure that my visit to the States will inject new vitality to the China-U.S. relationship. Thank you very much.

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you all.