Visiting Chinese Vice-Premier WuBangguo said in London Wednesday that the development of long-term, friendly and stable Sino-British relations and cooperation tallieswith the fundamental interests of the two peoples.

In talks with British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Wu said the past years have witnessed ever-increasing development of bilateral ties. In 1998, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and British Prime Minister Tony Blair conducted a successful exchange of visits, during which the two sides issued a joint statement on theestablishment of a comprehensive China-UK partnership.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin's successful state visit to Britain last October, in particular, laid a solid foundation for the cross-century development of bilateral ties, he added.

The Chinese vice-premier, who arrived here Tuesday for an official visit, said bilateral economic cooperation has also made headway with the total volume of two-way trade reaching more than 7 billion US dollars in 1999. The economies of the two countriesare complementary and trade relations have a great potential, he said.

He noted China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) would not only serve the further development of China's economy, but also contribute to promoting its economic and trade cooperation with other countries.

He said China is now conducting bilateral negotiations with theEuropean Union (EU) on China's entry to the WTO and he hoped Britain would play a more positive role in encouraging the EU to sign an agreement with China as early as possible.

Prescott said Britain attaches importance to developing relations with China as it is a country of great potential. He added that Britain would continue to exert more efforts to furtherimprove bilateral political and economic ties.

The two sides also exchanged views on human rights and other issues of common concern.

Britain is the first leg of Wu's three-nation European tour which will also take him to Belgium and Switzerland. He will also visit the EU headquarters in Brussels and attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Xinhua)