Guinea-Bissau President Koumba Yala Monday pledged in Beijing to
adhere to the one-China policy and to refrain from re-establishing
official ties with Taiwan.
Yala, praising China as a sincere and great friend of
Guinea-Bissau, said that his country treasured friendship with
China. The development of bilateral relations is in the national
interest of Guinea-Bissau, he added.
Yala arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a five-day working visit to
China. He will also go to Shanghai, the biggest commercial centre
on the Chinese mainland.
President Jiang Zemin told Yala Monday that, although China and
Guinea-Bissau are far apart geographically, the friendship between
the two peoples can be traced back to the time when the people of
Guinea-Bissau were struggling for national independence.
Jiang indicated that, despite twists and turns in their bilateral
relations, the two countries have steadily developed friendly
cooperation in many areas. This cooperation has progressed well and
yielded positive results since China and Guinea-Bissau restored
diplomatic ties in 1998. Jiang added that China appreciated
Guinea-Bissau's support for Chinese reunification and the one-China
policy.
Beijing established diplomatic relations with Guinea-Bissau on
March 15, 1974 but suspended them on May 31, 1990 after
Guinea-Bissau set up diplomatic ties with Taiwan on May 26, 1990.
On April 23, 1998, diplomatic relations were restored between
Beijing and Guinea-Bissau.
Yala said his country recognized its mistake and returned to the
correct path.
Turning to economic relations between China and Guinea-Bissau,
Jiang said that Chinese entrepreneurs were encouraged to enter into
various types of mutually beneficial cooperation in
Guinea-Bissau.
China and Guinea-Bissau, both developing countries, share basic and
long-term interests in expanding friendly cooperation when facing
the challenges brought by multi polarization and economic
globalization, Jiang said.
Jiang also briefed Yala on the follow-up actions of the
China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the first ever venue for
Sino-African multilateral, collective dialogue to jointly plan for
the future within the framework of South-South cooperation.
(China Daily December 16, 2002)