LOS ANGELES - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States provides opportunities for people to meet one another and exchange their views, said Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Friday.

Xi's visit will promote not only bilateral trade relations, but mutual understandings, said Abercrombie, who is attending a series of meetings in Los Angeles between the Chinese delegation and some US officials.

Xi and his delegation arrived in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon from the central state of Iowa. He started his US visit in Washington DC on Monday as a guest of his US counterpart Joe Biden.

Abercrombie said that "the meeting like this puts individuals together in a way that they get to know each other as people."

"They can exchange views, they can exchange ideas, they can conclude agreements, but most importantly they get to know each other as human beings," he added.

"No questions that the visit of Xi will promote bilateral relations,"  said Abercrombie, who learned to speak a few words like "China" and "hello" in Chinese.

He also voiced the hope that the Chinese vice president will visit Hawaii someday.

"In Hawaii we know better than anywhere the value of travel, the value of people meeting one another, the value of people exchanging ideas and culture with one another in a setting of conference and relaxation," he said.

"So we are very anxious to have the (Chinese) vice president to come to Hawaii," said the governor.