Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met in London Tuesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying China is satisfied with the smooth development of Sino-British ties.

 

During the meeting in 10 Downing Street, Jia, leader of China's top advisory body, said China and Britain have conducted smooth dialogue in various levels, strengthened political trust, found more common interests in many fields, and gained new results of cooperation in all areas.

 

China has attached great importance to the development of relations with Britain and is satisfied with the smooth development of Sino-British relationship, Jia said.

 

China is also willing to make concerted efforts with Britain to realize those important agreements between leaders of the two countries and try to push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Britain to a higher level.

 

Noting that China has played more and more important role in international affairs since it has gained unprecedented strength, Blair said keeping a good British-Chinese relationship is very important for Britain.

 

Since China recovered the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Blair said, leaders of Britain and China have kept close contacts, bilateral ties have developed greatly, and scope of cooperation has been broadened.

 

Britain will continue to make contributions to the development of British-Chinese relations, he said.

 

Britain is the first leg of Jia's four-nation Europe tour from October 22 to November 3, which will also take him to Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)