China and Greece issued a joint
statement?in?Beijing?Thursday, announcing that the
two nations had agreed to build an all-round strategic
partnership.
?
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is paying a three-day
official visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese
counterpart Wen
Jiabao.
Karamanlis has met with Wen and will meet with President Hu
Jintao, top lawmaker Wu
Bangguo and top political advisor Jia
Qinglin.
According to the statement, China and Greece agreed that their
relationship has developed smoothly.
Their strong political relations and cooperation in various
fields has yielded good results.
"There remains great potential for the two countries to further
expand and deepen bilateral ties," the statement says.
The two sides promised to enhance political dialogue and
personnel exchange at various levels in a bid to deepen their
political ties.
The international community should deal with threats and
challenges in the framework of the United Nations and solve
international disputes by political means through negotiation and
consultation, the statement adds.
The two sides agreed that the UN should undergo reasonable and
necessary reforms to improve its ability to handle threats and
challenges, but emphasized that the reform should be conducted
through democratic consultation and in a step by step manner.
The two countries reiterated that UN resolutions must be
respected and implemented. They also agreed to improve coordination
and cooperation to improve the efficiency of peacekeeping missions,
and push for substantial progress in arms control and the
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Greece said it would support China's constructive role in the
six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2006)
