Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived in the capital of Chile Thursday morning for a three-day state visit, kicking off his tour of six Latin American nations.
Starting from Chile, Jiang will also visit Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba and Venezuela.
Jiang paid the visit, also his first foreign tour in the new century, at the invitation of Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar.
Jiang's special plane arrived at the Santiago international airport at around 10:10 local time. He was accorded an airport welcome ceremony by Chilean Foreign Minister Maria Soledad Alvear and greeted by Chinese Ambassador to Chile Ren Jingyu and representatives of Chinese residing in Chile.
In a written speech distributed at the airport, Jiang said he was delighted to pay his first state visit to Chile and conveyed sincere greetings and good wishes of the Chinese people to the Chilean people.
Chile was the first South American nation to have diplomatic ties with China 30 years ago and is now China's second largest trade partner in Latin America.
The Chinese president said that China and Chile had scored remarkable progress in their cooperation in the political, economic and trade, cultural, scientific and technological and other areas over the past three decades.
In particular, he said, the frequent high-level exchanges, fruitful economic cooperation and good cooperation in international affairs between the two countries in recent years have brought the Chinese-Chilean relationship to "the best period in its history."
He said the Chinese government attached importance to its ties with Chile and regarded Chile as a reliable partner. He believed the visit "will be a successful one."
Jiang's entourage included his wife Wang Yeping, Vice Premier Qian Qichen and his wife Zhou Hanqiong, Minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission Zeng Peiyan, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng, Special Assistant Hua Jianmin, Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director the Central Guard Bureau You Xigui and Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee Wang Huning.
(Xinhua 04/06/2001)
