The two airports in Shanghai reported cargo and mail throughput of 4.24 million tons in 2017. The city is the third aviation hub in the world after Hong Kong and Memphis, boasting a cargo and mail throughput above 4 million tons, according to the Shanghai Airport Authority.
The two presidents held a telephone conversation on June 11, when they talked about turning challenges into opportunities as the countries deepened their cooperation in the joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The twice-yearly Guangzhou Import and Export Fair, better known as the Canton Fair, has helped the city cement its role as an important trade hub since it was launched by the Ministry of Commerce and the China Foreign Trade Center in 1957.
The two-day talks that started on Wednesday morning in Washington were led by Liu and Lighthizer, with the participation of dozens of senior officials from both governments.
The twin visit took place against the backdrop of the forthcoming China International Import Expo, which will be held in China's Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10.
The two universities once cooperated to launch a Confucius Institute at Suphan Buri in Thailand in 2006.
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The two sides have also signed a memorandum of cooperation on tourism and an agreement on the training of skilled personnel. A total of 450 senior skilled personnel from Chongqing have gone to Singapore for training. Since 2016, over 1 million tourists have traveled between the two nations.
The two diplomats held phone talks on Sept 2, agreeing to meet as early as possible. Choi is the former presidential secretary for peace planning.
The typhoon was forecast to bring heavy rains and strong gales to Hainan and its coastal waters from Wednesday to Thursday.
The trend started in 2015, two years after China became the world's largest source of tourists. Last year, 131 million Chinese mainland tourists traveled to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the rest of the world, up 7 percent year-on-year (and up from 8.42 million in 1978 when reforms and opening-up began, leading to an average annual growth rate of 15.5 percent), according to a June report from the China Tourism Academy.