Chinese, Kazakh Leaders Eager to Enforce TiesVisiting Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao held talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev Friday morning in Astana, in which both sides voiced their readiness to further promote bilateral relations in all fields.Hu said the past eight years have seen smooth growth of bilateral ties which are characterized by mutual political support, mutual-beneficial economic and trade cooperation, and mutual trust in security matters. Frequent high-level exchanges have helped foster deep-going friendship among the leaders and peoples of the two countries, Hu said, adding that the settlement of border issue is one of major events in the history of Sino-Kazakh ties and indicates the strong determination from both sides to maintain friendly relations. Hu said China supports Kazakhstan's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. He expressed thanks to Kazakhstan for supporting China's position on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet and against the splittism. Tokayev said, for his part, that the Kazakh government upholds the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government of China and Taiwan is an integral part of China. He said that his country opposes any attempts to create "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan." He reiterated that Kazakhstan will never establish any official relations with Taiwan. The two leaders stressed that China and Kazakhstan will continue to support each other and cooperate closely on international fora. They noted that the presidents of the "Shanghai Five" nations of China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, reached agreement earlier this month that the five nations should take joint measures to fight against separatism, terrorism, extremism, arms trafficking, drug smuggling and other types of crimes. They also expressed readiness to further enhance bilateral friendly and cooperative relations and make joint contributions to safeguarding peace, stability and development in the region and the world as a whole. After their talks, Hu and Tokayev attended a ceremony for signing an economic cooperation agreement. |
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