On December 3, 2012, Vice Premier Li Keqiang met with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Ziguangge, Zhongnanhai.

On China-U.S. relations, Li said China and the United States are building a cooperative partnership of mutual respect and mutual benefit. To develop this partnership, the key is to highlight and expand common ground and control and narrow the disparities, Li said. He urged the U.S. to relax restrictions on high-tech product exports to China. Li called on Paulson and his team to combine thinking and action and make more efforts to China-U.S. relations.

Li said reform and opening-up was China's inevitable path to the country's prosperity and conformed to the fundamental interests of its people. Since China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2011, Chinese businesses have solidified their foothold in international competition and become stronger, Li said. He said, "China has benefited from the opening-up. In the future China will become more and more open." Li said to expand domestic demand, tap the urbanization potential and develop other initiatives all required an increasingly open environment. With further opening-up, China will expand its horizon, learn from other countries and cultivate advantages, Li said. He noted China expects its partners to become more open, adhere to trade and investment liberalization and create a fair and just environment, which is conducive to an all-win situation in the world.

Paulson said it is the consensus of the two major U.S. parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, to develop U.S.-China relations. China's urbanization scale is unprecedented and adds color to global economic development, said Paulson. Paulson said he and his team are committed to stronger collaboration with China in urbanization, agricultural investment and financial market construction.

Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai and President of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) Yang Wenchang attended the meeting.