Chinese FM meets three Asian counterparts

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met Saturday with his counterparts from Vietnam, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the Philippines, on separate occasions.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, ROK Foreign Minster Han Seung-Soo, and Philippine Vice-President and Foreign Minister Teofisto Guingona Jr. attended the third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, which concluded Friday.

The three foreign ministers spoke highly of the achievements of the ASEM Foreign Ministers' meeting, and congratulated China for successfully hosting the meeting.

On Sino-Vietnamese relations, Tang said the general secretaries of both the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam established the guiding principle of building a future-oriented relationship of long-term stability, good-neighborliness and all-round cooperation in 1999. The principle has made clear the orientation for the long-term development of relations between the two countries and the two parties, Tang said.

He said that Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao attended the Ninth National Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party not long ago, and reached a consensus with the leaders of Vietnam on deepening the relations between the two countries and two parties.

China is ready to work with Vietnam to keep the bilateral relations developing, Tang said.

Nguyen Dy Nien said the principle set forth by the general secretaries of the two parties is the foundation for the development of relations between the two states and the two parties in the new century.

Vietnamese departments at various levels will earnestly implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, he said.

Tang exchanged views with ROK Foreign Minster Han Seung-Soo on Sino-ROK relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Tang said China and the ROK agreed to push the Sino-ROK cooperative partnership into a new stage of all-round cooperation when Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited ROK last October.

He added that Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, is now visiting the ROK, and China is preparing for the visit of ROK Prime Minister Lee Han-Dong.

China is ready to work with the ROK to continue to promote Sino-ROK relations in various fields, Tang said.

Han said the ROK-China relations have produced marked achievements and the two countries have become important economic and trade partners. President Kim Dae-jung, the ROK government and various circles of the country attach great importance to relations with China and the ROK will continue to push forward the all-round development of the two countries' cooperative partnership, he said.

Tang spoke highly of the positive changes that have taken place on the Korean Peninsula since last year, saying that China has always held that the South and North are the major parties to the peninsular affairs, and China firmly supports the South and North in their efforts to improve relations and strengthen exchange so as to ultimately achieve independent and peaceful unification.

He voiced hope that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) and the United States resume talks at an early date under the current situation, and said that China will, as always, play a constructive role in the peace process on the peninsula.

The ROK minister said that the ROK government will continue to pursue the policy towards the DPRK, which was set forth since President Kim Dae-Jung assumed office.

He spoke highly of China's role in safeguarding regional peace and stability, and promoting the peace process of the Korean Peninsula.

On Sino-Philippine relations, Tang voiced satisfaction with the general trend of development and expressed hope for the two sides to maintain a high-level exchange of visits, develop beneficial political cooperation, and make joint efforts to promote long-term and stable good-neighborly relations of friendly cooperation.

He said bilateral economic and trade cooperation has been developing rapidly. He particularly mentioned the fast-developing Sino-Philippine agricultural cooperation, saying that China is willing to provide the Philippines with agricultural techniques, and encourage its enterprises to invest in the Philippines.

Guingona Jr. said he is pleased to see the rapid development of Philipine-China relations in recent years, especially the cooperation in trade and agriculture.

He said that the Philippines will, in accordance with the Joint Statement on the framework for bilateral cooperation in the 21st century, will expand cooperation with China in various fields.

He also suggested that the two sides enhance cooperation in such areas as cracking down on transnational crime. He reaffirmed that the Philippines adheres to the One-China stance.

The two sides reaffirmed that they would seek to resolve the existing problems through peaceful means in order to ensure the long-term and stable development of bilateral relations.






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