Chinese, New Zealand FMs Meet in Singapore
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said in Singapore on Sunday that Chinese President Jiang Zemin's up-coming visit to New Zealand is very important for bilateral ties in the new century.
Tang, in a meeting with New Zealand's Foreign Minister Don Mckinnon, said President Jiang's state visit to New Zealand scheduled for September, the first by the Chinese head of State, is of great significance for forming a 21 century-oriented relationship between the two countries.
The Chinese president will visit the South Pacific country after attending an informal APEC leadership conference there.
Tang expressed his satisfaction with the development of the relations between the two countries, saying cooperation between China and New Zealand has entered a phase of multi-tiered development in various forms and in many areas.
Mckinnon said that the New Zealand government attaches great importance to President Jiang's forth-coming visit and is doing its utmost to ensure that the visit is successful.
He also reiterated that his country will continue following the "one China" policy.
Tang and Mckinnon are here for the sixth Regional Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the dialogue meeting between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, which starts on Monday.
The ASEAN Regional Forum is participated in by ASEAN's 10 members, its 10 dialogue partners, its observer Papua New Guinea, and Mongolia.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The regional grouping's dialogue partners, besides China and New Zealand, include Australia, Canada, the European Union, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. (Xinhua)
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