Senior Chinese official Jia Qinglin Tuesday praised the mutual trust and support between China and Cuba on international affairs, and Sino-Cuban relations have entered a new era of all-round growth.

 

Jia, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting in Beijing with Pedro Saez Montejo, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

 

Jia is also Chairman of the top political consultative body in China, known as the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC).

 

Saez is a member in the leading body of the Communist Party of Cuba. He also holds a prominent position in the 23-member Council of State, the top governing group of Cuba. Fidel Castro Ruz serves as the President of the Council of State.

 

Saez and his entourage arrived in Beijing Sunday for a week-long visit to China.

 

Since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, Sino-Cuban ties have grown closer still. Leaders of the two countries have kept personal contact and exchanged regular visits. Fidel Castro paid state visits to China in 1995 and 2003. And Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Cuba in 2004.

 

Jia welcomed Saez to China, saying that with the personal attendance of top leaders of both countries, Sino-Cuban relations have been growing steadily since the 1990s. The two countries have carried out fruitful and substantial cooperation in all fields, Jia acknowledged. The frequent exchange of high-level visits has yielded important consensus between the two sides on further advancing mutually beneficial cooperation, Jia said.

 

Jia also thanked Cuba for its support to China on such issues as Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.

 

Cuba, a Caribbean island state off the southern coast of the US, is restructuring its economy and maintaining social stability despite US sanctions.

 

Saez said every Cuban who visited China is deeply impressed with its achievements in development. He said both the Communist Party and Government of Cuba attach great importance to friendship with China.

 

Thanks to the direct care and promotion by the top party and state leaders of both nations, Saez said, bilateral relations grew rapidly, and the people of both countries have gained substantial benefits from bilateral cooperation in all fields and at all levels.

 

Jia said the CPC attaches high priority on developing relations with the Communist Party of Cuba. He expressed the willingness to step up exchanges and cooperation between the two ruling parties to lift bilateral relations to a new level.

 

Jia paid an official goodwill visit to Cuba in last May.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2006)