Chinese General Meets Austrian VisitorsA Chinese military leader said on June 16 that China is ready to join efforts with Austria to promote exchanges and cooperation between their armed forces on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, so as to contribute to world peace and development.General Yu Yongbo, a member of the Central Military Commission and director of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Political Department, made the remark in a meeting with Friedrich Hoetzl, head of Section One of the Austria's Defense Ministry. Yu said that Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to Austria in March last year helped further promote the development of relations between the two countries, and exchanges of high-level visits between armed forces of the two countries have been frequent in recent years, and areas of cooperation have also expanded. Yu said that China is enjoying political stability, economic growth, ethnic unity and social progress, adding that the Chinese people's standards of living have improved remarkably and its national force continues to grow. Hoetzl said members of his group were impressed with the remarkable economic achievements China had achieved in such a short period. He said that armed forces of the two countries have maintained friendly exchanges over the past years, which is conducive to mutual understanding and trust. He expressed the hope that such exchanges will continue. |
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