Li Peng's Visit Marks New Era of Slovak-China TiesChina's top legislator Li Peng's current visit to Slovakia shows Slovakia-China relations have entered a new era, Slovak National Council Chairman Jozef Migas said Tuesday.During a meeting with Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), who is on an official goodwill visit, Migas said that as a big country in Asia and in the world as well, China has great influence and has played a big role which cannot be ignored. He said expanding relations with China is a consensus of the Slovak government, the National Council and the masses of the people. He said he was deeply impressed by China's achievements in national development he saw during his China visit last October. Migas said there are no conflicts between Slovakia and China, and instead there is a foundation for the two countries' extensive cooperation. Slovakia highly appreciates China's advocation that countries, big or small, should be equal, he said, adding expanding relations with China is one of the focuses of Slovakia's foreign policy. Migas stresses that Slovakia sticks to the "one China" position and will do so in the future. He expressed his hope for increased friendship between the parliaments of the two countries. He also asked Li Peng to convey President Rudolf Schuster's invitation for Chinese President Jiang Zemin to visit Slovakia. Li Peng said there exists a traditional friendship between the Chinese and Slovak peoples and this friendship has been maintained and grown after the independence of Slovakia. China respects the domestic and foreign policies Slovakia has formulated according to its own national conditions. He said China's NPC and Slovakia's National Council have good relations of cooperation. He said he hopes more Slovak National Council members will visit China so as to increase mutual understanding and friendship and make contribution to the overall growth of bilateral relations. Li stressed the importance of exchanges between different countries' parliament members for promoting friendship between peoples. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |