Premier Zhu Meets Dutch Leaders

Premier Zhu Meets Dutch Queen

Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji met in The Hague Wednesday with Dutch Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard and parliament leaders.

Zhu had brief talks this morning with the parliament leaders, First Chamber President Koethals Altes and Second Chamber's First Vice-President Frans Weisglas. He also met with some Dutch lawmakers in the parliament building in The Hague, the political center of the Netherlands.

At noon, the Chinese premier attended a luncheon hosted by Dutch Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard. They had very friendly talks.

Zhu, who came to the The Hague Tuesday after a visit to Luxembourg, also had one-hour talk with Dutch Prime Minister Vim Kok Tuesday afternoon.

At a joint press conference after his meeting with Kok, Zhu said he and Kok had a friendly, frank and fruitful meeting on the development of Sino-Dutch relations and a wide range of international issues of mutual concern.

Kok said there is mutually beneficial cooperation between the Netherlands and China not only in the traditional areas of economy and trade, but also in the fields such as technology, environmental protection, agriculture, water management and harbor building.

The Dutch prime minister told Zhu that his country firmly supports China's early entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). China's WTO admission will serve its own interests and will surely create more opportunities for effective cooperation between China and the Netherlands, he said.

On the situation of Taiwan, Zhu said that Chinese President Jiang Zemin set forth an eight-point policy on the Taiwan issue in 1995, which is still the basic and all-around policy for China to resolve the issue.

Emphasizing that the Dutch government will continue to uphold the "One China" policy, Kok said the Netherlands will not develop any kind of official ties with Taiwan.

The two leaders also exchanged views on human rights issue. Zhu briefed Kok on the development of human rights situation in China and China's position on the promotion of international cooperation in this regard.

They agreed that the dialogue between the European Union and China on the human rights issue has made positive achievements. Kok said it is necessary for different countries to develop constructive dialogue on the basis of mutual respect, since there are differences between countries in history, economy and social development, among others.

The Netherlands is willing to improve understanding through cooperation with China at all levels, he added.

The Netherlands is the Chinese premier's fourth leg of his trip to six European nations.