President Xi Jinping has recently replied to a letter from Ms. Sarah Lande, a friend of his in the U.S. state of Iowa.

Xi Jinping pointed out, I visited the beautiful state of Iowa twice, and have forged an indissoluble bond with the city of Muscatine. The Chinese and American people are both great people and our friendship is not only a valuable asset, but also an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations. The Chinese people are ready to keep on joining the American people in strengthening friendly exchanges, pushing forward mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly promoting the well-being of the two peoples. Xi Jinping encouraged Ms. Lande and his other old friends in the state of Iowa to continue sowing the seeds of friendship and making new contributions to the friendship between the two peoples.

Ms. Sarah Lande received Xi Jinping, then Party Secretary of Zhengding County in Hebei Province, when he visited the city of Muscatine in 1985. During his visit to the United States in 2012, Xi Jinping, then Vice President, went to Lande's home again to meet his old American friends. Recently, Lande wrote a letter to Xi Jinping, extending gratitude for President Xi's precious friendship with old friends and expressing the hope that the two countries will continue deepening people-to-people and cultural exchanges and enhance understanding and mutual trust. With the letter, Lande enclosed a copy of her memoir "'Old Friends': The Xi Jinping-Iowa Story" as a gift.