Visiting Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong (L) and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma co-chair the second plenary meeting of the China-South Africa Bi-National Commission in Pretoria June 29, 2004.

Visiting Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma co-chaired the second plenary of the China-South Africa Bi-National Commission (BNC) Tuesday in Pretoria.

Both sides have agreed in talks that the two countries should further strengthen and expand bilateral relations that have been satisfying in the past six years.

The commission has played a role as a mechanism to strengthen ties and expand trade relations between the two countries since its first session held in December 2001.

Zeng said China and South Africa have witnessed a smooth development of bilateral ties and cooperation in expanding fields including trade and business, investment, culture, education, science and technology, defense, tourism, justice and police affairs.

The Chinese government appreciated the South African government's adherence to the one-China policy and its support to China on human rights issues, Zeng said.

During the talks, the Chinese vice president proposed four points for the establishment of China-South Africa strategic partnership on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and common development:

- Enhancing political mutual trust for the establishment of the strategic partnership. In effort to lay firm political foundation for further cooperation, the two countries should maintain high-ranking official exchanges and promote bilateral relations on governmental, parliamentary and party levels.

- Strengthening the role of the BNC so that it can better serve for all-round cooperation.

- Both sides should further tap potentials of development to boost two-way reciprocal trade while taking each other's concerns into consideration to create favorable environment for cooperation.

- Increasing mutual coordination and negotiations in international affairs in order to promote China-Africa, Asia-Africa and South-South cooperation. The two sides need to advocate multilateralism and equality in international affairs and jointly safeguard legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

Echoing the proposals of Zeng, South African Vice President Jacob Zuma said the two countries shared common goals and views in various international affairs such as the reform of the United Nations and global trade system.

He said the South African government appreciated China's support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development, as well as China's efforts to fulfill its commitments to Africa under the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum.

He said South Africa is satisfied with fruitful cooperation with China in energy, mining, natural and human resource development, and culture sectors, and hoped to intensify the collaborations in future.

Source: Xinhua