On February 2, Minister Xie Feng attend the Opening of the photo exhibition "Looking back after 30 years" jointly held by the Chinese People's Institute for Friendly Relations with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and MGM Mirage in CityCenter, Las Vegas.

In his remarks, Minister Xie reviewed the historic progress in China-US relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties and emphasized the importance of continued and healthy development of the relations. Minister Xie pointed out that the continued and steady advancement of China-US relations is the shared aspiration of the two peoples and serves the fundamental interests of both countries. The two sides should view and handle bilateral relations from the strategic height and with a long-term perspective, earnestly implement the important agreement reached by the leaders of the two countries and expand dialogue, mutual trust and cooperation. The two sides also need to handle differences and sensitive issues properly, respect each other's core interests and concerns and work together to advance China-US relations toward the positive, cooperative and comprehensive direction. Minister Xie reiterated China's firm position against US arms sale to Taiwan, called on the US side to withdraw the wrong decision, stop arms sales to Taiwan and take concrete actions to follow up on the agreement reached by the two leaderships and abide by the three China-US joint communiqués and the China-US Joint Statement.

Vice President of CPAFFC Li Xiaolin, Chinese Consul-General in San Francisco Gao Zhansheng, CEO and President of MGM Mirage Bob Moon also attended and addressed the Opening session. Nearly 200 people from all walks of life attended the ceremony and tour the exhibition.

Since its inception in Beijing on January 12 2009, the exhibition has been held in over a dozen cities in China, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and a number of cities in the United States including Los Angles, Washington DC, Atlanta and Park. The exhibition was held in the landmark CityCenter, a multi-billion dollar investment by MGM Mirage, and is one of the series of celebrations held by the group to celebrate the Lunar Chinese Spring Festival. The exhibition lasts about two weeks.