China welcomes greater people-to-people exchanges between China and the US and encourages more Americans to visit China, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Baseball players from Detroit attending the opening ceremony of the Bond with Kuliang: 2026 China-US Youth Baseball Exhibition Games and Sports Festival take a group photo in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, June 29, 2026. (Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular press briefing in Beijing in response to the successful holding of the Bond with Kuliang: 2026 China-US Youth Baseball Exhibition Games and Sports Festival, during which eight youth baseball teams from both countries competed and built friendships through sports in Pingtan, East China's Fujian Province.

Mao said that the century-old Kuliang story is gaining renewed vitality and continuing to write new chapters in the friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

She also highlighted a series of recent exchange activities, including the China-US youth sports exchange event, the Flying Tigers Youth Leadership Dialogue, and the "PandaMaxxing" China-US youth exchange program, saying their positive outcomes fully demonstrate that the peoples of China and the US share common feelings, and are entirely capable of transcending differences, appreciating each other, and building friendships.

"These exchanges underscore that the hope of China-US relations lies in the people, its foundation is in grassroots connections, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from subnational exchanges," Mao said. "China welcomes more Americans to visit and engage in exchanges, experience a real, multidimensional and comprehensive view of China firsthand, and actively promote bilateral friendship."