China is the world’s largest developing nation and the US is the world’s most developed large nation. Bilateral trade between the two has grown impressively. In the early part of the 1970s, there was virtually no trade. Today, two-way trade is something in the order of $ 6 billion and increasing. Increasing amounts of American investment have taken place in China, and Chinese investment in the United States is also beginning. The result, I believe, is that we have built the beginnings of a sound foundation for future commercial and financial ties. China’s imports from the US, which amounted to $900 million in 1978, rose to nearly $ 3 billion in 1982. Exports rose from $ 300 million to $ 2.3 billion during that period. Total Chinese trade has also risen dramatically, from 1978 to 1983 Chinese exports increased from roughly $ 10 billion to $22 billion, while imports increased from $ 10 billion to just over $21 billion.