Senior Chinese party official meets Finnish PM

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (L) shakes hands with Wu Guanzheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), during their meeting in Helsinki Sept. 23, 2005.

China values its ties with Finland and is ready to push the bilateral relationship to a new high, a senior Chinese party leader said Friday in Helsinki.

Wu Guanzheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made the remarks in his talks with Finnish Prime Minister and Chairman of the Center Matti Vanhanen.

Wu, who is also secretary of the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, said the current Sino-Finnish relationship is developing in a sound way, as exchanges and cooperation between the two countries are progressing smoothly in the political, economic, educational and scientific and technological sectors.

In recent years, the exchanges of high-level visits have been frequent while economic and trade cooperation has been increasingly closer, Wu said.

He thanked the Finnish government for its adherence to the one-China policy.

The CPC would like to further tighten the friendly exchanges and cooperation with the Center in Finland, to increase mutual understanding and friendship, so as to push forward the state-to-state relations, in line with the principles of independence, full equality, mutual respect and non-interference into each other's internal affairs, Wu said.

Vanhanen said Finland pays great attention to its ties with China and recent years have seen smooth growth of bilateral relations and frequent exchanges of high-level visits between the two countries.

The bilateral cooperation in all fields has been effective and fruitful, he said, adding that he appreciated China's fast economic growth and hoped to promote further Finland's economic and trade contacts with China.

Vanhanen said his party will continue to strengthen the friendly dialogue and in-depth cooperation with the CPC in a bid to further enhance the relations between the two nations.

Wu arrived in Finland on Thursday, on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Finland is the third leg of his four-nation good-will visit to Europe, which has taken him to Malta and Sweden. He is expected to conclude his Finnish tour and fly to Belarus on Sunday afternoon.

Source: Xinhua