Secretary of State Vance's Trip to the People's Republic of China Remarks on Secretary Vance's Return.

THE PRESIDENT. It's with a great deal of both pleasure and pride that I welcome Cy Vance back to our country. He has had a very important mission to one of the most important nations on Earth, the People's Republic of China.

This is a country of central importance and also influence in the world, and we attach very high significance to this trip. Although our objectives were deliberately limited--and as has been mentioned, I think, in the press, the discussions were exploratory in nature--they were highly successful.

Premier Hua has sent word back to me, along with Vice Premier Teng, that the discussions were very fruitful from their point of view. I believe that this is a major step forward in our ultimate goal of normalizing relationships with the People's Republic of China.

Discussions will be continued, and they could not have been in better hands, nor will they in the future be in better hands than those of our Secretary of State, Cy Vance.

Cy, we're proud to have you back. You are a great representative of our country, and of course, as always, our people have full faith in you.

SECRETARY VANCE. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I appreciate very much your coming out here to welcome us back.

Let me say it's very good to be home. We had a good and useful trip to China. I had the privilege of meeting not only with the Foreign Minister but also with Chairman Hua and with Vice Premier Teng. The conversations were described by them as earnest and significant. I felt them to be very useful.

As the President has said, this was an exploratory trip, and I think it was very important that we have this exchange of views for the first time with this powerful and great nation. We will be continuing our discussions in the future.

And let me close by saying again, it's very good to be back home.