Mauritian President Meets with China's CPPCC Chairman Li Ruihuan

Mauritian President Meets with China's CPPCC Chairman Li Ruihuan

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Mauritian President Cassam Uteem said on Tuesday that African countries like Mauritius will develop friendship and cooperation with China, a trustworthy friend, no matter what others will say.

Uteem made the remarks during a meeting with Li Ruihuan, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Li is on a three-day official visit to Mauritius, the first leg of his four-nation tour, which will also take him to South Africa, Morocco and Turkey.

Uteem said that no matter how some people and countries are critical of China, African states, Mauritius in particular, will continue to consider China as a trustworthy friend and develop friendship and cooperation with it.

He reiterated that Mauritius will always follow the one-China policy and support China's efforts aimed at seeking reunification.

Li briefed the Mauritian president on China's development road, stressing that China wants development and peace.

He said that there is no way out for China, a country with 1.3 billion population, without development. And China's development needs a "good international environment," and therefore China needs to have friendly cooperation with all countries in the world.

The chairman noted that African countries have similar experiences as China, and both are faced with the task of developing economy and improving people's living standard. It is in the common interests of China and Africa to consolidate and develop their friendly cooperative relations.

"We are willing to work along with the people of Mauritius, the people of Africa and the people of all countries in the world for a peaceful, stable, just and fair new international political and economic order, and contribute to the peace and development of the entire world," Li said.

China and Mauritius established full diplomatic relations 29 years ago. Over the past several years, an increasing number of Chinese came to Mauritius and the Chinese government has offered great assistance to Mauritius in infrastructure construction, said Uteem.

Also on Tuesday, in a separate meeting with Dev Ramnah, speaker of the National Assembly of Mauritius, Li and Ramnah both stressed that CPPCC and the National Assembly of Mauritius should increase exchange with the aim of assisting the development of bilateral relations.