Visiting State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and Macedonian Prime
Minister Nikola Gruevski pledged to boost bilateral ties during a
meeting in Macedonia's capital city of Skopje.
Tang, who arrived in Skopje on Monday, expressed China's
appreciation for the Macedonian Government's policy of making
developing Sino-Macedonian ties its diplomatic priority.
Tang hopes both sides will hold tightly to the main direction of
the development between the two countries, push cooperation forward
and harvest more progress.
He made a number of suggestions on how to boost bilateral
ties.
The first one, Tang said, is to further promote exchange between
the countries' governments and parliaments, increase exchanges
between various parties and people, enhance political trust, and
consolidate the basis of friendship.
The second one is to deepen trade and economic cooperation,
excavate potential, broaden the fields and methods of cooperation,
raise the standards of cooperation, and achieve mutual benefit and
a win-win situation.
The third one is to strengthen cooperation in culture,
education, science, technology, radio and television and introduce
incentives to the sustained development of bilateral ties.
Tang also exchanged opinions on the issue of Kosovo with
Gruevski.
It is no good to handle the issue of Kosovo with undue haste,
even worse to set up a time limit and impose solutions on others,
Tang said, adding that the settlement of the issue needs patience
and wisdom.
As member of the UN Security Council, China is willing to
contribute constructive efforts to the settlement of the issue of
Kosovo, Tang said.
For his part, Gruevski said Macedonia attached great importance
to the development of Sino-Macedonian ties and agreed to the
important suggestions Tang raised to boost bilateral ties.
The prime minister reiterated that his government would
steadfastly pursue the one-China policy, and object to "Taiwan
independence" activities with determination.
On Monday, the two also attended a ceremony to sign an agreement
on Sino-Macedonian economic and technological cooperation, and took
part in a press conference.
Tang, who previously visited Serbia, arrived in Skopje on Monday
for a short visit. Macedonia is the second stop of Tang's eight-day
official visit, which will also take him to Montenegro, Slovenia,
and Croatia.
(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2006)
