Chinese President Hu Jintao exchanged congratulatory messages Wednesday with Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his message, Hu said that in the 1970s, Chile took the lead among South American countries in establishing diplomatic relations with China, and the friendly relations between the two countries had turned a new page since then.

Over the past 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Chile, bilateral relations had witnessed smooth development and yielded rich fruits, the Chinese president said.

The establishment of a China-Chile comprehensive cooperative partnership in 2004 was a vivid manifestation of the good faith, mutual trust, friendly cooperation and the willingness to seek common development between the two countries, Hu said.

The Chinese government and people had always regarded Chile as a trustworthy friend and an important partner in Latin America, he said, adding that China was willing to join hands with Chile to implement the outcomes of bilateral high-level visits and consistently push forward the long-term and stable China-Chile comprehensive cooperative partnership featuring equality and mutual trust.

Pinera said that Chile was the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations with China. The past 40 years had seen fast development of bilateral ties between China and Chile, with frequent exchanges of high-level visits, rapid development of economic and trade cooperation, rich cultural and people-to-people exchanges and ever-increasing communication at all levels of governments, Pinera said.

Chile always firmly abides by the one-China policy, he said, noting that Chile would like to work together with China to tap the potential for cooperation in various fields to create a better future for the China-Chile comprehensive cooperative partnership.

On the same day, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also exchanged congratulatory messages with his Chilean counterpart, Alfredo Moreno.