China is willing to join hands with India to promote friendly
exchanges and expand substantial cooperation so as to push
bilateral strategic cooperative ties to a new height, said Chinese
Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in New Delhi Tuesday.
Li made the remarks while meeting with Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the 14th summit of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). China was
invited to the meeting, which opened here Tuesday, as an
observer.
Li said that leaders of China and India had reached a consensus
on deepening bilateral strategic cooperative partnership and
formulated a 10-point strategy to this end.
In response, Singh said that India welcomed China as a SAARC
observer and that there was great potential for cooperation in
various fields between China and SAARC. SAARC wishes to share
China's experience in poverty alleviation, he said.
Singh said that India was committed to deepening bilateral ties,
implementing the 10-point strategy in order to achieve bilateral
trade volume of US$40 billion by 2010.
President Hu Jintao's visit to India last year has injected new
momentum to the development of the bilateral ties, said the Indian
prime minister.
India is willing to push forward negotiations over the border
issue in order to find a resolution based on equality and mutual
benefit at an earliest date.
On the same day, Li also met and held talks with other delegates
present at the SAARC summit.
While meeting with Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonpo Chenkyab
Dorji,Li said that China and Bhutan had been long-term friendly
neighbors and in recent years the two sides developed favorable
exchanges and maintained peace and stability along the border,
which are conducive to both countries.
Dorji said that the Bhutanese people had cherished the
friendship with the Chinese people and that the Bhutanese
government stuck to one-China policy.
While meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha
Bogollagama, Li said that the two countries are standing new
chances while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic relations and the Sino-Sri Lankan Friendship Year in
2007.
China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to well organize the
celebration programs so as to fully push forward the Sino-Sri
Lankan comprehensive cooperative partnership, he said.
The bilateral relations between the two countries have stood the
test of time and Sri Lanka expects to take the opportunity to
enhance the friendly neighborhood and expand economic and trade
cooperation, Bogollagama said.
While meeting with Sahana Pradhan, foreign minister of the
Nepalese interim government, Li extended congratulations to the
Nepalese interim government, hoping that the peace progress in
Nepal would keep moving forward to realize stability and
development in the country as early as possible.
Pradhan said that Nepal had always adhered to the one-China
policy and supported China's stand on Tibet.
Talking to Foreign Minister of South Korea Song Min-soon, Li
said that the two countries would stand favorable chances to
further the bilateral relations this year while celebrating the
15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and
the China-South Korea Exchange Year.
Premier Wen Jiabao will visit South Korea soon, which is
significant for improving strategic dialogue, promoting mutual
cooperation and mutual benefits, Li said.
Song said that the South Korean government was busy preparing
for the visit of the Chinese premier and hoped that his visit would
be fruitful for the future of the bilateral ties.
In talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Li said that
the current relationship between China and Japan is good in
general.
As Chinese Premier will pay an official visit to Japan soon, he
said, major opportunities for the development of the relations
between the two countries have arisen. He said that the visit would
play a significantly important role in promoting the further
improvement of the bilateral relations.
Aso said that the relations between Japan and China had improved
and that the high-level exchanges had been more and more frequent
since last October. He said that the Japanese side was making
preparations for Wen's visit to Japan and was ready to make
unremitting efforts for the success of Wen's visit together with
China.
Talking with US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, Li
said that both China and the United States should grasp tight their
mutual benefits, strengthen the dialogue and cooperation in
broadly-based bilateral issues and major international and regional
affairs, and take issues of mutual interest and concern into
consideration.
Li pointed out that the Taiwan authorities had recently been
intensifying the action of seeking "Taiwan independence," posing a
real and serious threat to peace and stability of the Taiwan
Straits. Li urged the U.S. side to keep its promise by real action
and not to send any wrong signal to the force seeking "Taiwan
independence."
Boucher stressed that the US side would stick to the one-China
policy and deal with concerned matters with caution. He said that
the U.S. side was ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation
with China in international and regional affairs.
(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2007)
