In his remarks, Consul General Liu congratulated Hainan Airlines on the success of its first flight to LAX and pointed out that, the flight connecting a tier II city of China's central area with Los Angeles of US represents a milestone in the development of bilateral economic ties. All earlier flights between LAX and China fly to tier I cities of Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou.

The Consul General also said that, Los Angeles has been a favored-destination in terms of trade, investment and tourists from China. One third of China-U.S. trade is handled through Los Angeles Customs District. Over 430 Chinese companies have established their business presence in the area. About 50 flights commute between LAX and Chinese cities every week. Nearly 780,000 Chinese tourists visited LA last year, which makes China LA's second largest international market of tourism. He believes that, the in-depth development of people-to-people and business-to-business exchanges will facilitate deeper understanding, mutual trust and friendship between the two peoples and two countries, and will further promote stable, sound and sustained development of China-US relations.