From June 25 to July 3, U.S. President Bill Clinton paid a state visit to China at the invitation of President Jiang Zemin. President Jiang Zemin and President Clinton reached important consensus on a wide range of issues in their talks. The two sides agreed that China and U.S. should further strengthen dialogues and cooperation on major international issues. The two sides agreed to continue in concerted efforts to make greater strides towards the goal of building a constructive strategic partnership between China and the U.S. gearing towards the 21st century. The two sides decided not to target the strategic nuclear weapons under their respective control at each other. The two sides agreed to further strengthen the strategic dialogue in economic and financial sector so as to make positive contribution to a healthy development of world economy and finance. The two sides issued the Joint Statement on the Negotiation of the Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention and the Joint Statement on Banning Anti-Personnel Landmines. The two sides held in-depth discussions on the question of nuclear proliferation in South Asia and issued the Joint China-U.S. Statement on the Issue of South Asia. The two sides agreed to continue to strengthen and expand cooperation and exchanges in the vast fields of politics, economy and trade, environment protection, energy, culture, education, science and technology, military, law, etc. Besides Beijing, President Clinton visited Xi'an, Shanghai, Guilin and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

On July 27, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met with U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright during the Foreign Ministers Meeting of ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila. In September, Zhang Wannian, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China visited the U.S. From September 27 to 29, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan visited the U.S. On November 16, during the sixth APEC Informal Leaders Meeting in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, President Jiang Zemin met with U.S. Vice President Al Gore , who attended the meeting on behalf of President Clinton.

On January 1, 1999, President Jiang Zemin and President Bill Clinton exchanged congratulatory letters on the occation of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S. From March 1 to 2, U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright visited China. On March 27, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson expressed China's strong opposition to the U.S. Government's decision to sponsor a China-related motion on the 55th Conference of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

From April 4 to 14, 1999, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji paid an official visit to the U.S. at the invitation of U.S. President Bill Clinton, which was the first visit to the U.S. by a Chinese Premier in 15 years. Premier Zhu and his entourage were accorded warm welcome and reception by the U.S. Government and the American people of all circles. Premier Zhu Rongji and U.S. President Bill Clinton held two rounds of talks during the visit and had an extensive and in-depth discussion on China-U.S. relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. Both sides indicated that they attached great importance to the development of China-U.S. relations and would continue in their concerted efforts to build toward a constructive strategic partnership between China and the U.S. On April 9, Premier Zhu Rongji and U.S. Vice President Al Gore co-chaired the opening ceremony of the 2nd session of China-U.S. Forum on Environment and Development. On April 10, Premier Zhu Rongji and President Clinton issued a joint statement on the issue of China's accession to the WTO in Washington, D.C., in which the U.S. Government expressed its commitment to firmly support China's accession to the WTO in 1999. Premier Zhu Rongji also elaborated China's principled position on the questions of Taiwan, human rights, Kosovo, etc. Besides Washington, D.C., Premier Zhu Rongji visited Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, New York and Boston.

On April 23, the "no motion" measure introduced by China was passed on the 55th conference of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, which voided the so-called resolution on China's human rights situation sponsored by the U.S. before it reached the conference for vote.