Chinese President Jiang Zemin met with Sultan Bin Abdul-Aziz, second deputy prime minister and minister of defense and aviation of Saudi Arabia, in Beijing Thursday afternoon.

Jiang said both China and Saudi Arabia boast ancient civilizations and brilliant cultures, and their friendship can be traced back to long ago.

During the decade since diplomatic ties were forged between the two countries, bilateral cooperation has witnessed smooth development, with fruitful cooperation conducted in political, economic, cultural and other fields, he said.

The two countries have maintained sound political relations and their economies are highly complementary, Jiang said, adding that there are broad prospects for future cooperation.

At this trans-century point, China is willing to work together with Saudi Arabia to push forward friendly cooperation so as to benefit the two countries and the two peoples, he said.

Jiang continued that China and Saudi Arabia, both countries of important regional and international influence, have no basic conflicts, but share the same or similar views on many important regional or world issues.

China appreciates Saudi Arabia's pursuit of the one-China stance and is grateful for its support in world affairs.

Sultan agreed with Jiang that there's traditional friendship between the two countries, adding that Saudi Arabia highly values its friendship with China and is willing to reinforce bilateral cooperation in political, economic, cultural and other fields.

He expressed the conviction that friendship between the two countries would grow continuously.

Sultan is paying an official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian, who is also state councilor and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

(Xinhua 10/12/2000) )