NEW YORK, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright stressed the importance of the U.S.-China relationship Monday night in New York, while expressing optimism for cooperation between the two countries as the U.S. moves to transition into the Trump administration.
The two former top officials in U.S. foreign policy made their remarks at an event called, "Leaders Speak: Secretaries of State."
"The U.S. and China must have a close and friendly relationship," said Kissinger, former Secretary of State under the Nixon administration and a crucial figure in the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic ties in 1979.
"The peace of the world relies on our ability to do this," he added.
On recent China-related remarks posted by the President-elect Donald Trump on social media regarding Taiwan, both former top foreign policy officials agreed that any deviation of current U.S. foreign policy norms will not be in the common interests of both countries.
Kissinger noted that in the early term of the Bill Clinton Administration, the then president tried to deviate from the established policy pattern toward China.
"In two years, President Clinton realized that our established pattern was in our common interests" and then "became one of the strongest supporters of this way of international relations," said Kissinger.
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