Chinese Vice-President Arrives in Madagascar ����Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao arrived in Antananarivo Saturday to start his three-day official visit to the island country of Madagascar, the first leg of his 13-day four-nation African tour. ����The Chinese Vice-President came to this world's fourth biggest island, his first trip to Africa, from China by special plane as guest of the Madagascar government. ����Hu is one of the top Chinese leaders to visit Africa in recent years, following the African trips by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, former Premier Li Peng and Premier Zhu Rongji. ����In his written statement upon arrival, Hu said his current African visit is to "make friends, increase understanding, deepen friendship and expand cooperation". ����This is also aimed to further consolidate and develop the Sino-African traditional friendly relations of cooperation under new circumstances, Hu said, adding that his visit would serve as a good beginning for his 13-day four-nation African tour. ����He said that although China and Madagascar are far away from each other, friendship between the two peoples can long be traced back. ����Since the two forged diplomatic ties in 1972, bilateral friendly relations of cooperation have been proceeding in a steady way and both sides support each other in international affairs, he said. ����Hu was greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Tantely Andrianarivo and some other senior Madagascar officials. In his accompany, Hu reviewed the guards of honor of the three services of the armed forces. ����Accompanying Hu on the current African visit are Vice-Foreign Minister Ji Peiding and some other senior Chinese officials. ����Sunday, Hu is expected to meet Ange C.F. Andrianarisoa, President of the Madagascar National Assembly, and have working talks with Andrianarivo on promoting the China-Madagascar relations and on other issues of common concern. ����After this visit, Hu will proceed to Ghana on January 26 to continue his African tour. The other two African nations that Hu will soon visit are Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa. HomeNews 1999-01-24 Page1 Full Story in Chinese