On the evening of March 18, 2003, Chinese President Hu Jintao received a phone call from US President George W. Bush. Congratulating Hu on his election as China's president, Bush said the United States is willing to cooperate closely with China to continuously advance bilateral ties. Bush reiterated the US government's adherence to the One China policy as well as the three US-Sino joint communiques, saying the United States will not support the "independence of Taiwan."

Hu Jintao expressed thanks for Bush's congratulations on his election. He emphasized China's new leaders will stick to the reform and opening-up as well as the independent foreign policy of peace and continue to develop cooperative friendship with other countries including the United States. He said that with the care and efforts of Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and President Bush, the two countries have set the goal of developing constructive relations of cooperation. The two nations have achieved positive progress in exchanges and cooperation in all fields, which conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and is also conducive to the global peace and development. China is ready to work with the US to promote the sound and stable development of China-US relations to benefit the two peoples. Hu appreciated Bush's reiterating the stance on adhering to the One China policy. This is the political foundation of stable development of Sino-US relations.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the Iraq issue and the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On the Iraq issue, China always advocates a political solution within the framework of the United Nations, Hu said, adding China hopes for peace instead of war. On the DPRK nuclear issue, Hu said China has always stood for keeping the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free, maintaining its peace and stability, and solving problems through dialogue. The key to solving the issue is to launch dialogue as soon as possible, especially between the United States and the DPRK. In the meantime, actions that will escalate the situation should be avoided.