国际英语新闻：Boeing CEO says China to continue to be U.S. major market, partner

CHICAGO, May 26 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to be both major market and partner to the United States, supporting thousands of U.S. jobs and contributing significantly to the U.S. balance of trade, said CEO of a Fortune 100 company in Chicago on Wednesday.

James McNerney Jr., chairman, president and CEO of the Boeing company, made the statement at a luncheon organized by The Chicago Council On Global Affairs as part of its Corporate Program: Focus on China.

McNerney started his speech by commending Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner for the progress their teams made this week at the Sino-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing.

"It is vitally important that U.S. leaders are engaged in supporting U.S. trade relationships. Expanded engagement in international markets, combined with the recovery of our financial service markets, is critical to accelerating our overall economic recovery," he said.

In 1972, then President Richard Nixon landed in Beijing aboard Air Force One - a Boeing 707 - marking the first visit of a U.S. president to China. Boeing has been one of the few American companies present in China since diplomatic and economic channels were reopened.