Chinese President Xi Jinping has told students from an American high school to build a bridge and bond for people's exchanges of the two countries.

President Xi made the remarks in a recent message delivered by the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.

Earlier, the Principal of the Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington, Patrick Erwin wrote to President Xi and briefed him about student exchanges in recent years.

During their visit to the school in September 2015, Xi, along with his wife Peng Liyuan, invited the students to visit China, and under the invitation, nearly 100 students visited China in 2016, Erwin said.

Since then, our school has arranged several visits to China, and we received about 10 student group visits from China, the principal said. And during 2016-2019, we welcomed 25 to 50 Chinese exchange students each year, he said, adding that these exchanges have made the students with different backgrounds lifelong friends.

Erwin said through student exchanges and education cooperation, we will make a good model for people of both sides.

Both China and the U.S. face the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it's good timing for students to take the leading role in supporting each other in the bilateral ties, he said.

As sister cities, Tacoma and Fuzhou have supported each other by providing each other with medical supplies, he noted. This is a role model of bilateral cooperation, he added. 

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping greets a student during his visit to the Lincoln High School in Tacoma of Washington State, U.S., September 23, 2015. /Xinhua)