Visit by China's top legislator Wu Bangguo to the three Latin American nations
of Brazil, Uruguay and Chile has been highly fruitful and will have
significant bearings on China's relations with the whole region,
said a senior Chinese official on Saturday.
Wu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress (NPC), wrapped up a 13-day official good-will visit to the
three Latin American countries and came back home Sunday
morning.
The top legislator held talks with leaders of Brazil, Uruguay
and Chile as well as Latin-American Parliament chief during his
visit.
Wu delivered important speeches at the Brazilian Parliament, at
an annual session of Brazil-China Chamber of Trade and Industry
(CCIBC) and China-Chile economic and trade forum.
The top legislator signed a memorandum of understanding on the
establishment of regular exchanges mechanism between the NPC and
Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and formally launched the political
dialogue committee between the NPC and the Chilean Parliament.
He attended the ceremonies for the signing of trade cooperation
agreements between China and Brazil, Uruguay and Chile, and visited
Chinese enterprises in a free trade area in Brazil.
The Latin American tour by Wu is an important diplomatic
activity by Chinese leaders this year, which has made concrete
achievement and will have deep and important bearings on China's
relations with the Latin American region, said deputy
secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, Cao Weizhou, who
accompanied Wu on the Latin American tour.
Strengthening of mutual political trust
Wu introduced China's foreign and domestic policies, highlighted
China's implementation of its scientific development policy, its
dedication to building a socialist harmonious society as well as an
international community dominated by harmony, and its unswerving
stances in focusing on economic construction and adherence to the
reform and opening-up policies and its pledges for peaceful
development.
The visit contributed to increasing the understanding of the
three Latin American nations on China's domestic and foreign
policies and harvesting more support for the stances and principles
of the Chinese government on the questions of Taiwan and Tibet, Cao
noted.
The leaders of the Brazil, Uruguay and Chile reiterated their
adherence to the one-China policy, which they said would never
change.
Wu and the leaders expressed identical or similar views on some
major international and regional issues, and they believed that the
development model of a country should only be determined by its
people according to the country's realities.
Wu and the leaders also agreed to further enhance dialogue and
cooperation in efforts to safeguard the rights and interests of
developing nations.
Substantial progress in trade cooperation
During Wu's visit, China and Brazil signed a series of
cooperation agreements on trading in jet planes, jointly building
hydro-electricity plants and other important projects.
China and Chile signed a referendum of understanding on
cooperation in the production and trade of copper. Wu and Chilean
President Michelle Bachelet also announced that the free trade
agreement between the two countries would be brought into effect
from October 1, and that free trade investment and service trade
talks would also be officially launched then.
The signing of agreements between China and Chile during Wu's
visit signifies that bilateral economic and economic cooperation
between China and the Chile has been promoted to a higher level,
which will serve as an example for promoting China's economic and
trade cooperation as well as relations with the whole Latin
American region, Cao said.
Important steps for inter-parliamentary
exchanges
At meetings during the visit, Wu and parliamentary leaders from
Brazil, Chile and Uraguay all regarded inter-parliamentary
exchanges an important part of international relations, with
strengthening political mutual trust and promoting real cooperation
as the key points of exchanges.
Wu hoped China's NPC and the parliaments of the three South
American countries could exchange more views on how to better
govern a country, and strengthen cooperation in international and
regional parliamentary organizations.
During the visit, a referendum of understanding was signed
between China's NPC and Brazil's House of Representatives on
routine exchange of information. Wu and Chile's parliamentary
leaders jointly announced the official start of a political
dialogue committee between China's NPC and the Chilean
Parliament.
These developments signify that inter-parliamentary relations
between China's NPC and the Brazilian and Chilean parliaments have
entered a new phase of substantive exchanges, Cao concluded.
(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2006)
