The standard of diplomatic work serving overseas Chinese will be continuously enhanced to safeguard their legal interests, promised Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Li made the remarks at a ministry reception for more than 1,300 overseas Chinese, organized to celebrate Sunday's National Day.

China will stick to its independent foreign policy of peace, building a harmonious world of joint prosperity, according to Li.

"Chinese diplomatic missions helped me in both my life and career in the United States," Xiong Tianyu, who has lived in the United States for 26 years, told China Daily at the gathering.

He said he had been in a serious traffic accident in Chicago in 1992.

"When I woke up in hospital after being unconscious for 30 hours, the first people I saw were officials from the consulate general of China in Chicago," said Xiong.

He remembered how moved he was at that time. The diplomatic officials had driven for 3 hours from Chicago to the hospital after hearing about the accident on television.

In 1991 Xiong laid plans to establish an association for Chinese scientists and engineers in the United States.

"It was the consulate general in Chicago and the Embassy of China that helped me gather Chinese scientists and engineers from seven states," he said.

Since its establishment in 1992, the Association of Chinese Scientists & Engineers in the United States has received continuous support from the Chinese diplomatic missions.

Li Haiyan, who lives in Canada, said: "The embassy and consulates are my home in Canada."

(China Daily 09/30/2006 page2)