WASHINGTON - A senior Chinese lawmaker on Tuesday urged the US government to resolve the dispute with China over its arms sales to Taiwan with vision and wisdom, so as to establish an eternal friendly bilateral relationship.

In the 23rd annual Lynch Lecture speech hosted by the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution of George Mason University, Yan Junqi, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, criticized the United States for announcing a 5.85-billion-US-dollar arms sale package to the Chinese island of Taiwan in September, which she said has cast shadows on China-US relations.

Yan strongly urged Washington to honor its commitments regarding the Taiwan issue and stop selling arms, so as to avoid hurting bilateral ties. She said this dispute should be tackled with vision and wisdom by the two governments for the sake of maintaining their friendly relationship.

At the same time, Yan hailed the great achievements gained by China and the United States in developing bilateral relations, 39 years after former US President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972, which led to the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1979.

She noted that, during the January visit to the United States by Chinese President Hu Jintao, China and the United States reached important consensus on working together to build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit to deal with challenges of the 21st century. Maintaining friendly relations between the two countries will contribute to keeping world peace, she said.

In her speech, Yan also reflected on the historical background, current state of China's peaceful rise and its impact on the world. Only after a long and protracted search, China has chosen the right path of peaceful development featured by the opening up and reform policy, she said.

With its fast economic growth, China is taking on more and more responsibilities on the international arena, including active participation in UN peacekeeping missions, fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, and aiding the fight against famine in the Horn of Africa, she added.