SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Jerry Brown said Saturday that he is looking forward to cooperating with China on climate change and pollution reduction.

Brown, who was attending a reception hosted by Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco to mark the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 16, said California is looking forward to the warmth of spring and a new life "in our relationships between California and China, and America and China as well."

"In this Spring Festival, it is a time for new idea(s), new relationships and ways to cooperate," he told an audience of more than 600 overseas Chinese, American friends, as well as Californian and San Francisco officials who gathered to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Recalling his visit to China last June, Brown said he had spoken with Chinese leaders about climate change, Belt and Road and other conduits of relationships.

California has signed many memoranda of understanding the Chinese sides and were jointly building their ties together, he added.

That is so important because "we are living in a world of not only great opportunity but also great danger, not only great cooperation but also great competition, he said.

China and California are also working together on "climate action, actions to reduce pollution, carbon pollution, menthane, and various pollutants that make people sick and actually kill people," he said.

Climate change is a real challenge, and China is making great strides in pollution regulation, in controlling carbon emission, and is advancing in clean technology like zero emission cars, he noted.

"We have a common threat, we have common technologies. We need to do common research. That's exactly what we can really do," said the Californian governor.

Chinese Consul General Luo Linquan said in a speech that China-U.S. relations have kept on developing fruitfully in 2017.

"The four high-level dialogue mechanisms established between China and the United States have promoted bilateral cooperation in various fields," Luo said.

China-U.S. trade volume grown above 16 percent to some 580 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.

"The two countries keep on being the most important goods-trade partners to each other," Luo added.

The year of 2018 is a crucial year to build on past achievements and open up the future for the development of bilateral relations, which concern not only the well-being of both peoples, but also world peace, prosperity and stability, Luo said.

"We should work together to build an open and inclusive world free from isolation, to build a green, clean and beautiful world," said the Chinese consul general.