Chinese vice president meets Portuguese president, PM on bilateral ties

LISBON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng visited Portugal from Sunday to Tuesday and met with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Antonio Costa to discuss bilateral ties.

When meeting with Rebelo de Sousa, Han conveyed the cordial greetings and best wishes of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Han said that under the guidance of the two heads of state, China-Portugal relations have maintained sound and steady development.

Since the beginning of this year, China's economy and society have returned to normal and its economic growth has picked up, creating greater cooperation opportunities between China and Portugal and other countries, Han said.

China is committed to developing friendship and cooperation with other countries, promoting the building of a new type of international relations, and expanding converging interests with other countries, he added.

China-Portugal and China-Europe relations should focus on win-win cooperation, Han said, noting that China is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Portugal and Europe to serve respective economic development and contribute to the stability and recovery of the world economy.

For his part, Rebelo de Sousa asked Han to convey his cordial greetings and best wishes to Xi, hailing that Portugal-China friendship has grown stronger as time goes by.

He said that Portugal has always been committed to building a bilateral relationship featuring friendly mutual trust and positive cooperation. The Portugal side refuses to view its relations with China and Europe-China relations from a simple perspective.

The Portuguese president said Portugal is ready to further strengthen high-level exchanges with China, deepen important cooperation in trade, science, technology, culture and people-to-people exchanges, among other fields, and continue to actively promote constructive cooperation between Europe and China.

During talks with Costa, Han pointed out that China attaches great importance to its traditional friendship with Portugal and has always been promoting and developing China-Portugal comprehensive strategic partnership from a strategic and holistic perspective.

Han said that Portugal is an excellent window for Chinese companies to enter the European market, noting that the close cooperation between enterprises of the two countries has yielded important results, which reflects the high level of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.

He also said the Chinese side encourages Chinese companies to invest in Portugal and welcomes companies from other countries, including Portugal, to invest and develop in China, and looks forward to extensive exchanges with the Portuguese government and all social sectors.

Han called on the two sides to promote the resumption of face-to-face exchanges and the inter-departmental exchange and dialogue mechanism, and push for more fruitful practical cooperation in trade, investment and other fields.

Costa warmly welcomed the visit of Han. Portugal-China relations have a long history, he said, noting that Portugal and China had successfully realized the smooth transition and transfer of government in Macao and firmly fulfilled their political commitments, setting a good example for the international community.

Portugal adheres to the one-China policy, and supports the practice of "one country, two systems" in Macao, said Costa, adding that Portugal and China have built a sound partnership through the Macao platform.

He called for joint efforts to give greater vitality to the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries, promote more practical cooperation, better deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between Portugal and China, and expand trilateral cooperation with African countries.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Han reiterated China's stance of facilitating talks for peace, noting that China will continue to work with the international community to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis.

Han on Monday made a field trip to the Research and Development Center of Redes Energeticas Nacionais SGPS SA (REN), Portugal's national grid operator in Lisbon, and visited the laboratory and dispatching room of the center which was established as a joint venture between the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and REN.

Han encouraged Chinese and Portuguese enterprises to further strengthen cooperation in technology breakthroughs, standard popularization and mechanism innovation in smart grid and other fields.

During his visit to Portugal, Han also met with Carlos Mota Santos, chairman and CEO of Portuguese infrastructure group Mota-Engil.