CHICAGO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Consul-General in Chicago Zhao Jian called on the local Chinese community to make greater contribution to the cooperation and exchanges between China and the U.S. Midwestern states.

Zhao made the appeal at a reception held by the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago (CAAGC) on Saturday.

"I can deeply feel a strong will in the American Midwest to conduct all-around cooperation with China, and I have also witnessed the diligent efforts made by the local Chinese community to enhance economic, financial and cultural exchanges between the two countries," said Zhao.

Statistics show that China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.6 percent year on year to hit 90.03 trillion yuan (about 13.46 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, contributing more than 30 percent to the world's economic growth. China's economy has ample resilience, enormous potential and great creativity to unleash, which provides a great opportunity for the two countries to cooperate with each other, according to Zhao.

As China and the United States are the world's two largest economies, the cooperation potential between China and the U.S. Midwest is as vast as ever, Zhao said.

The past four decades of China-U.S. relations have proven that cooperation is the best choice for the two countries.

As a Chinese saying goes, "amity between people holds the key to sound relations between states," friendship between the two peoples is the impetus for the development of China-U.S. relations, Zhao said.

"We are looking forward to seeing the Chinese community continue to carry forward the traditional Chinese culture, support the modernization drive of the motherland and commit to the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries," added Zhao.

Ye Ming, an overseas Chinese from the U.S. state of Indiana, echoed Zhao's opinion, saying that overseas Chinese community should try to get involved in various cultural and educational activities abroad and try to promote Chinese culture during the process.

CAAGC Chairwoman Zheng Zheng said that as sound development of China-U.S. ties is the common aspiration of overseas Chinese, the CAAGC will work together with the Chinese Consulate-General in Chicago to facilitate bilateral exchanges in various fields.