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Chinese Premier Meets Speakers of Nepalese Parliament
Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Tuesday met with speakers of both houses of the Nepalese parliament in Kathmandu, speaking highly of China-Nepal relations.
In his separate meetings with Taranath Ranabhat, speaker of the lower house, and with Mohammad Mohsin, chairman of the upper house, Zhu said China and Nepal have been good neighbors since the ancient times and after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, bilateral ties developed smoothly. Now the friendly cooperation has expanded into every field of bilateral relations and the two nations coordinated and supported each other on the international arena.
Zhu expressed China's thanks to Nepal for its support of China on such issues as human rights, Tibet and Taiwan over the years.
The Chinese premier pointed out that there are no outstanding issues left over from the past but only friendship, goodwill, understanding and cooperation exist between China and Nepal. During his 1996 visit to Nepal, Chinese President Jiang Zemin agreed with Nepalese King Birendra to establish a good-neighborly partnership for generations and King Birendra made a fruitful visit to China earlier this year.
China attaches great importance to developing friendly relations of cooperation with Nepal and believes such a relationship will see further development in the new century, Zhu said. He also expressed the hope that the parliaments of two countries will increase friendly contacts.
The two speakers welcomed Zhu's visit to Nepal. They said the friendly relations between Nepal and China set a good example of good-neighborliness between countries no matter big or small. They told the Chinese premier that it is the consensus of both houses of the Nepalese parliament to develop relations with China and they are ready to promote the understanding and friendship between the two peoples by increasing contacts with China's legislature.
Zhu also met Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist and Leninist.
Zhu is here on a two-day official visit aimed at consolidating China-Nepal ties and deepening bilateral economic cooperation. The Himalayas kingdom is the second leg of the Chinese premier's five- nation South Asia and Southeast Asia tour, which will take him to the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
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