Hu's first state visit to the United States scheduled for April18-21 will be another major event for China-U.S. ties after presidents of the two countries met in New York and Beijing last year, Zhou said in an interview with Xinhua.

Both the Chinese and U.S. sides have consulted heavily and prepared meticulously for the visit, which is aimed at expanding consensus and cooperation to jointly promote constructive and cooperative relations, he said.

The relationship between China, the world's largest developing country, and the United States, the largest developed country, is undoubtedly among the most important bilateral relations in the world, and both nations share responsibilities in maintaining peace, security and prosperity in the world, particularly the Asia-Pacific region, Zhou said.

Although they have different views on certain issues due to their different social systems, economic development levels and cultural backgrounds, China and the United States share broad and important common interests. That is why they should and could foster steady development of long-term constructive and cooperative relations, Zhou said.

Underscoring the achievements in bilateral ties since China and the United States established diplomatic relations 27 years ago, the ambassador said that in today's new era of global peace, development and cooperation, both nations had more common interests and the foundation for their cooperation had been strengthened rather than weakened.

Hence, the importance of China-U.S. relations has become more prominent than ever, he said.

Zhou said the general trend of present bilateral relations was steady and sound.

The two sides have frequent high-level communications and contacts, increasing dialog and exchanges at various levels and in many areas, he said.

They are also expanding cooperation in trade, anti-terrorism, law enforcement, nonproliferation, infectious disease control, science and technology, education and other areas. And positions are coordinated in international and regional affairs such as the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue, the reconstruction of Iraq and United Nations affairs, according to Zhou.

China hopes to work more closely with the United States to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole, he said.

On economic issues, Zhou said China-U.S. trade relations were mutually beneficial and had yielded concrete benefits for the two peoples.

Acknowledging that there will be some friction as bilateral trade grows rapidly, he said the key to solving such problems would be sticking to the principles of "equality, mutual benefit and development," and the avoidance of politicization of economic and trade issues.

The outcome of the recent meeting of the Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Washington is positive and will help ease trade friction, Zhou said.

As the most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations, the Taiwan issue is crucial to maintaining steady development of bilateral relations, he said.

Zhou said it was in the interests of both China and the United States to oppose and contain "Taiwan independence," and to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asia-Pacific region.

He said the Chinese side hoped the U.S. government would stick to its pledges on the issue and handle the Taiwan issue in a proper manner.

Zhou said bilateral military ties were also an important part of China-U.S. relations and the general trend of military-to-military relations had been good in recent years.

Increased exchanges between the two militaries have helped enhance mutual understanding and trust, and China is willing to work closely with the United States to further develop the bilateral military relations, he said.

The ambassador said it had already been proven and will be further proven in the future that China's development was peaceful,open, cooperative and harmonious.

China's peaceful development will only provide new and important opportunities for both countries, their peoples and the rest of the world, and would never pose a threat to the United States or any other nation, he said.

In all, there will be even greater prospects for China and the United States to further their relations in the new century, Zhou added.