WASHINGTON- The China-US relationship features close communication and broad cooperation among other main characteristics, Chinese ambassador to the United States Zhang Yesui said here Wednesday.

Related readings: Chinese, US presidents arrange discussion  China seeks assurance on assets in US Sino-US economic ties benefit both sides: Geithner

In an online chat with Chinese netizens via Xinhua's official website, Zhang noted that relations between Beijing and Washington are one of the most important bilateral relationship in the current world.

Despite the many twists and turns, China-US ties have maintained general stability and achieved marked progress, he stressed, adding that the 32-year-old relationship has displayed four main features.

The first among them is that the two sides conduct constant communication and dialogues. For example, he said, during the past two years, Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama met seven times and communicated frequently.

Meanwhile, the two countries have established over 60 dialogue mechanisms, among which the Strategic and Economic Dialogue stands out as the important one, the ambassador noted.

The second he mentioned is the close economic and trade relations between the two sides. China and the United States are now each other's second largest trading partner, Zhang said, noting that China-US trade reached $385.3 billion last year, about 160 times of the volume when the two established diplomatic relations.

Frequent exchanges of personnel are the third prominent characteristic, Zhang said, citing the over 3 million people traveling between the two countries each year and the more than 110 passenger flights shuttling across the Pacific Ocean every week.

Besides, around 120,000 Chinese are now studying in the United States, and the number of Americans studying in China exceeds 20,000, the senior Chinese diplomat noted.

The fourth, Zhang said, is that the two countries enjoy a wide range of cooperation fields, as Beijing and Washington have not only kept in-depth contacts and cooperation on bilateral issues, but also maintained effective communication and coordination on many global and regional subjects.