Chinese FM Meets Thai, Vietnamese CounterpartsChinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met his Thai and Vietnamese counterparts, chairmen of the current and next Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) here separately Wednesday afternoon.During the meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, Tang expressed his satisfaction with the smooth development of Sino-Thai relations, and thanked Thailand for the hospitality it showed during the recent visit of Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao. Surin noted that Hu's successful visit to Thailand from July 18 to 22, on the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, will further enhance Sino-Thai friendship. Tang also praised Thailand for its effort to promote dialogue, mutual understanding and cooperation among ARF members during its chairmanship in the past year. Congratulating Vietnam as the next ARF chair country, Tang told his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Dy Nien that China is satisfied with the progress in the Sino-Vietnamese cooperation. Tang also discussed the issues on the agenda of the upcoming 7th ARF meeting, which is to be held here Thursday, with Thai and Vietnamese foreign ministers. In the meetings, both Thai and Vietnamese foreign ministers spoke highly of China's active support to ASEAN and the important role it plays in the regional political and security dialogue, saying that their countries will seek stronger cooperation with China in international and regional affairs. All three ministers agreed that the stability and security trend in the region are showing a positive momentum. ARF, comprising 23 members, is a multilateral consultative mechanism aimed at promoting preventive diplomacy and confidence building in the Asia-pacific region. |
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