President Hu Jintao reaffirmed on Thursday in the United States that China will continue to deepen its reform and opening-up and adhere to peaceful development while he also urged Washington to be mindful of Beijing's "core interests" in Taiwan and Tibet.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago, the United States, Jan. 21, 2011. [Huang Jingwen/Xinhua]

Before leaving for Chicago on the final stop in his four-day state visit to the US, Hu delivered a speech at a luncheon in Washington where he explained China's approach to maintaining a cooperative partnership with the US.

About 500 US business and political leaders attended the event that was hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations, along with several cooperating organizations.

The two countries issued a 41-item joint statement on Wednesday laying out the foundations for future China-US relations that emphasized their common interests and recognized differences.

During his speech, Hu identified the broad common interests and responsibilities that are the basis of China-US relations and proposed several steps to take the "sound and steady" relationship into a new decade.

He said both nations are committed to upholding world peace and stability and reforming the international system as well as developing the Asia-Pacific region and building stronger bilateral ties in all fields to benefit the people of both countries.

In addition to expanding strategic and economic cooperation, the Chinese president urged the US to treat China with respect and as an equal and to handle major and sensitive issues in an appropriate manner.

"Taiwan- and Tibet-related questions concern China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and they represent China's core interests," he said.

"They touch upon the national sentiment of 1.3 billion Chinese people. We hope that the US will honor its commitments and work with us to preserve the hard-won progress of our relations."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing firmly opposes leaders or government officials from any country meeting with the Dalai Lama in any form, and also firmly opposes any country using the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in Tibet-related issues, which are China's internal affairs.

US President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama in Washington in February, despite China's strong opposition, an event that worsened bilateral relations that were already disturbed by an earlier US arms sale to Taiwan.

Beijing broke off military ties with the US after the arms sales and the military-to-military relationship did not start to warm back up until the end of last year.