On June 1, Ambassador Qin Gang met with Austin Mayor Steve Adler in Austin, Texas.  Mr. Adler welcomed Ambassador Qin for his first visit to the city, and said that he had visited China twice as mayor to promote a sound cooperative relationship between Austin and Chinese cities, including Beijing, Changsha and Chengdu. In the past few years, Austin has jumped from the 44th largest city in the United States to the 11th, becoming an ideal place for American and foreign companies to make investment and do business. Austin is committed to increasing economic, trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges with cities in different countries, and continuously exploring the opportunities to make inter-city relations more substantial.  

Ambassador Qin spoke highly of Austin's development and said that Austin is a well-known high-tech center in the United States with thriving cultural and creative industries, which showcases the vigor of the American economy. He emphasized that his visit was aimed at renewing the bond between China and the United States at the subnational level and reinforcing local ties. He hoped that Austin would deepen its pragmatic exchanges and cooperation with Chinese cities in the fields of economy, trade, people-to-people exchanges, culture, aviation, and city governance, so as to inject more positive energy into China-US relations.