SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ties between China and the United States have brought huge benefits to the peoples of both countries, and a stable China-U.S. relationship serves both their fundamental interests, a senior Chinese diplomat said here Friday.

Addressing an event at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco marking the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese Consul General Wang Donghua said two-way trade volume reached 583.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, about 233 times more than when formal diplomatic relations began in 1979.

Wang said that data from the U.S.-China Business Council showed that about 2.6 million jobs have been created from American exports to China and Chinese businesses in the United States.

As the two largest economies in the world, China and the United States share more common interests than their differences suggest, and competition between the two should be positive and benign instead of vicious, Wang said.

"The purpose of competition is to promote mutual development, rather than suppress or curb the development of the other," Wang added.

Wang said that China has been California's largest trading partner for a number of years as well as the state's largest source of international visitors and students, setting a good example for the rest of the United States.

California Assemblyman Kansen Chu spoke positively of the exchanges and cooperation between California and China.

He hoped that China and California will further work together to achieve positive results in culture, education and tourism, which will boost the friendship between the governments of China and California.

California State Controller Betty T. Yee said that California has enjoyed a strong relationship with China over the years, and she was pleased to see both parties entering into the California-China clean tech partnership.

"As we tackle the global challenges together, we need China (and) we need the exchange of ideas and the knowledge that has really elevated the standard of living in China," she said of Asian country's great achievements in poverty relief.

"It's truly remarkable when we came to recognize the elevation in the standard of living for many of the people in China," Yee said.

She added that the current strained trade relations between China and the United States have affected every economic sector in California, from agriculture and the wine industry to technology.

However, she said California will continue to keep the door open to China when it comes to trade and economic cooperation, particularly the collaboration in poverty reduction and clean energy.

More than 800 representatives from U.S. political, economic and business sectors, and the Chinese community in the Bay Area attended the event Friday evening.