HOUSTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States should build a relationship based on mutual respect and non-confrontation, making the cake of cooperation bigger, a Chinese diplomat said.

Co-hosted by Peking University Alumni Association of Houston and the Houston Tsinghua Alumni Association, the 2018 Southern U.S. China summit was held on Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy and the 120th anniversary of Peking University.

Delivering a key note speech, Chinese Deputy Consul General Wang Yu reviewed the profound achievements China has made in the past four decades and addressed the challenges China is facing right now.

In terms of China-U.S. relations, Wang said the two countries share common interests. "We are living in the era of globalization and information, China's interests and U.S. interests are highly intertwined," he said.

Admitting that China-U.S. relations have experienced ups and downs in history, Wang believed the two countries should acknowledge the differences while manage the differences "in a constructive way".

"We have a lot of mutual interests and great potentials, so we need to make the cake of cooperation bigger instead of cutting them into tiny pieces," said Wang.

During the summit, Peking University and Tsinghua University alumni, as well as people from Houston's political, business and academic sectors shared their views on the topics of China's opening up, future of energy development, life science and healthcare, as well as education and entrepreneurship.