Spanish PM Meets Chinese Military Leader

China occupies an important position in the diplomatic policy of Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said here Wednesday.

Aznar made the remarks when meeting Zhang Wannian, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, who is on an official goodwill visit to Spain. Spain and China have long maintained friendly relations and there have been frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries, he said.

Aznar said he is looking forward to his coming visit to China, and that Spain attaches importance to the visit and believes the visit will achieve complete success.

Zhang briefed Aznar the domestic situation in China. On the question of Taiwan, he said China's basic policy on the Taiwan issue is "peaceful unification and one country, two systems."

He noted that China will never promise to give up the use of force on the issue of Taiwan. This stance targets at the attempts to separate Taiwan from the motherland and foreign invasion of Taiwan.

On bilateral relations, he said Sino-Spanish ties have developed smoothly in recent years, and the exchange of visits by Chinese President Jiang Zemin and King Juan Carlos I of Spain has laid a solid foundation for further developing the relations between the two countries.

He said China is willing to work together with Spain to expand the fields of military exchange and cooperation and to maintain the momentum of development of relations between the two armies.

Zhang arrived here Monday at the invitation of Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo.



People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/