Chinese President Hu Jintao made the comments Thursday during a meeting with Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who started his official China visit Wednesday morning as a guest of Premier Wen Jiabao.

Hu said the two nations had a solid traditional friendship and their relations had withstood the test of international vicissitudes since they forged diplomatic ties over half a century ago.

The relationship had been marked by frequent exchanges of high-level visits and active exchanges and cooperation in different fields and at all levels, he said.

Hu thanked Romania for sticking to the one-China principle and giving steadfast support to China's reunification cause. He said China was also grateful for Romania's help in the battle against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The saying "A friend in need is a friend indeed", vividly described the Sino-Romanian relationship, he said.

Referring to inter-party relations, Hu said the Social Democratic Party was the first party in Romania to establish ties with the Communist Party of China, and also maintained the closest ties with the CPC. The CPC was ready to further strengthen friendly exchanges and cooperation to boost both nations' all-round development.

Nastase said his visit demonstrated once more the solid relations between the two countries. The Romanian people were standing together with the Chinese people in their battle against the SARS outbreak. He believed the epidemic was temporary and the Chinese government and people would win the battle in the end.

He also expressed Romania's wish to bolster the two countries' exchanges and cooperation in trade and economy, culture, personnel and party relations, so as to further promote the friendship between the two peoples.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2003)