Last updated at 6.05pm: Former US President Bill Clinton stressed the importance of ties with China and the rest of Asia for bringing global peace and prosperity in a rousing closing address to the Fortune Global Forum on Thursday.
In a passionate, but conciliatory speech, Mr Clinton said mutual interests and free trade were the keys to a better world.
''It is imperative to complete China's accession to the WTO at the earliest possible moment,'' Mr Clinton said, adding that that it important to grasp the fact that the relationship between Washington and Beijing was not ''inherently adversarial'' and that ''the world will be a better place in the next 50 years if we are partners.''
While there were inevitable ''bumps on the road'', Mr Clinton said that the underlying trend was a continuing improvement in ties. He cited the example of mainland basketball prodigy Wang Zhizhi, who, Mr Clinton said was watched by over 400 million Chinese for his first match in the NBA, something that would have been ''unimaginable ten years ago''.
Mr Clinton, speaking to around 700 local and international business executives, said that building a harmonious relationship between ''the world's oldest democracy and the world's oldest civilisation and most populous country'' was a cornerstone to his administration's foreign policy.
Problems such as the recent spy plane impasse and accidental bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, had to be worked through.
Mr Clinton also gave the most impassioned expression of regret to date for the bombing, which took place during his period of office.