President Xi Jinping Says China And US Hold The Responsibility Of Peace, Stability And World Development

Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Wikimedia Commons/Palighcio do Plan to pass)

JAKARTA - President Xi Jinping said China and the United States must realize peaceful coexistence, assume responsibility for peace, stability and development in the world, in a reply letter to two US Flying Tigers veterans who fought for China during World War II.

In response to a letter from former pilot Harry Moyer and shooter pilot Mel McMundlen, President Xi said the Chinese people and the United States had the same enemy in their fight against Japan, establishing deep friendship according to Chinese state media on Tuesday.

"Looking ahead, China and the United States, as two major countries, bear a more important responsibility for world peace, stability and development," President Xi said.

"They must achieve mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation," President Xi continued.

His call for a stable and peaceful relationship follows a series of meetings and talks between US and Chinese officials in recent months to ease tensions and restore communication channels, including contacts between their military.

"Currently, China-US relations face many difficulties and challenges," Chinese Vice President Han Zheng told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Monday.

"The world needs a stable and healthy China-US relationship," said Vice President Han.

The American volunteer group, known as the Flying Tigers, is a group of fighters, consisting of a former US pilot hired by the Republic of China led by the Kuomintang led byung Kai-shek, to fight against Japan in 1941-42.

The pilots, whose planes became icons because of their shark faces, are widely known in China for their courage to face the larger Japanese troops, as they aired from the rural runway made by the Chinese by hand.