Celebrations for China’s National Day are underway across the world. San Francisco is pulling out all of the stops, highlighting California’s long-lasting relationship with China. But leaders are also looking to the future.

CGTN’s Mark Niu reports.

Through traditional music and song, the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco celebrated the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

California and China have a close relationship. Estimates provided by the consulate say the U.S.-China trade volume reached nearly $600 billion last year, with California accounting for 27 percent. The city of San Francisco even has its very own China-S.F. initiative.

“We Invite businesses from China and the U.S. to greet each other, support each other,” San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee said.

“And after some five years of very good relationships, we have now enjoyed $5 billion dollars of investment from China into San Francisco. Real estate, financial businesses, all of that we’ve gained a lot from establishing this relationship, and it’s helped our economy.”

Bringing China and California even closer together is President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative, a trillion dollar infrastructure project linking the western world to countries along the ancient Silk Road.

“Lot of countries, including quite a lot of western countries, they are participating in this initiative,” Luo Linquan, the San Francisco Consul General for China said. “We welcome the U.S. and California to take part.”

The initiative is one reason why California Governor Jerry Brown attended the Chinese National Day celebration for the second year in a row.

During President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit in 2015, Brown met with Xi for 45 minutes.

“You might not know it, but California is going to be part of the One Belt, One Road,” Brown said. “President Xi told me himself that California is on the Silk Road. We’re actually the Golden Road. And when you put the Golden Road together with the Silk Road, you have it all.”

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