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)