Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning

The cross-border friendship between a US donor and Chinese tree planters is a vivid example of people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday.

Mao noted that more than 20 years ago, a US teacher named Sakolsky, who was teaching in China, raised $5,000 to help Yin Yuzhen, a national model for desert reclamation in China, and her husband combat desertification and plant trees. Today, that generous donation has grown into more than 50,000 trees.

Yin recently turned to the internet to search for Sakolsky. After a long separation, the two reunited online, winning widespread praise from netizens for this cross-border friendship.

It is believed that the two peoples will continue to write more stories of friendship and constantly inject fresh vitality into China-US relations, Mao added.