On January 9, 2024, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng delivered a speech at the Carter Center Forum commemorating the 45th anniversary of the establishment of U.S.-China relations.

Ambassador Xie said that due to the Covid-19 pandemic and worsening China-U.S. relations, a chill loomed over people-to-people exchanges in the past few years. When travel went down, estrangement and misunderstanding went up. But the more difficulties there are, the greater the need for us to forge a closer bond between our peoples and encourage more to speak up for the relationship. It is important to remove obstacles and spark a new boom in people-to-people exchanges.

Ambassador Xie said that China is now actively implementing President Xi’s initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years. We have also rolled out policies to facilitate travels between our two countries. For instance, we now provide walk-in visa application services, and have significantly optimized the visa policy for travelers from within the United States. Tourist visa applicants within the United States will no longer be required to submit round-trip air ticket booking record, proof of hotel reservation, itinerary or invitation letter. All friends here are encouraged to visit China and see the country for themselves. 

Ambassador Xie said that at the reception commemorating the 45th anniversary of China-U.S. diplomatic relations co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs on January 5 in Beijing, he had the pleasure to meet a group of American students from Columbia University and the University of Virginia. They shared with him excitedly what they had seen and heard in China, expressed their admiration for China's time-honored history and splendid culture, marveled at the warm hospitality of the Chinese people, and ranked China as one of the most open and safest countries in the world.

Ambassador Xie expressed the hope that the U.S. side will work with China in the same direction, take measures to clear obstacles in travel, visa and border entry policies, further increase direct flights significantly, adjust the China travel advisory as soon as possible, encourage and support business, educational, cultural, sports, youth, sub-national and media exchanges, and especially stop interrogating, harassing and repatriating Chinese students. We count on friends from all walks of life to continue playing a constructive role in boosting mutual understanding and cooperation between the two peoples.