Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met in Beijing Friday with Mongolian Foreign Minister Luvsangiin Erdenechuluun and his party.  

Tang said China had always valued its relationship with Mongolia, an important neighbor, and the two heads of states' announcement of the establishment of a good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust last year had ushered bilateral relations into a new phase.

China had laid down a peripheral diplomatic policy of befriending neighbors and treating them as partners, Tang said. Under this principle, China would further expand cooperation with Mongolia in all spheres.

Tang reiterated the Chinese government's stance on the Taiwan issue, and thanked the Mongolian government for its adherence to the one-China policy.

Erdenechuluun said the Mongolian government valued its relations with China, and the high-level contacts in the new year had given their relationship a good start.

He said Mongolia was ready to participate in regional multilateral cooperation, and his attendance at the inauguration ceremony of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) secretariat demonstrated an important step forward in cooperation with the SCO.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2004)