BEIJING, March 17 -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli met with former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson in Beijing on Tuesday.

Zhang said the Paulson Institute has played an active role in promoting China-U.S. relations. He expressed his hope that the Paulson Institute will continue to achieve fresh results in advancing bilateral cooperation in trade, environment protection and other areas.

Paulson expressed his willingness to continue to work on exchanges and cooperation with China, saying the Paulson Institute is ready to advance U.S.-China trade and environmental cooperation.

As the international situation is undergoing complex and profound changes, healthy and stable growth of China-U.S. relations is not only in the interests of both countries, but also in the interests of the world, Zhang said.

Over the past few years, the two sides have worked in line with the consensus reached by their heads of state to strengthen cooperation in various areas such as politics, trade and environment protection, he said. Such work has laid a good foundation for building a new type of relations between the two big powers.