BEIJING, April 8 -- Senior Chinese official He Lifeng met with John Thornton, chair emeritus of the U.S. Brookings Institution, in Beijing on Tuesday. The two sides exchanged views on China-U.S. economic and trade relations and macroeconomic situation.

He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, said that China was accelerating the building of a unified national market, releasing consumption potential, and developing new quality productive forces based on local conditions.

He said China was also further deepening reform in an all-round way, expanding a high level of opening up, and responding to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of high-quality development.

Noting that U.S.-China relations are very important, Thornton said he would continue to play a role in enhancing people-to-people exchanges and promoting the stability of the relations between the two countries.