Liang Guanglie, chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), met in Beijing with a Romanian delegation led by Gheorghe Matache, secretary of state and chief of department of armaments in the Romanian Ministry of Defense.

Liang welcomed the Romanian delegation to China and said its visit would contribute to the further growth of China-Romania military ties.

China and Romania have maintained a close military exchange and cooperation, and in recent years, the high officials in the two armies visited each other frequently and the exchanges and cooperation in the military fields also maintained a good growth momentum, Liang acknowledged.

The Chinese army attaches close importance to the relationship with the Romanian army and maintains positive views on promoting the friendly cooperative ties between two armies, Liang noted, voicing the hope that the friendship between the two armies would continue to witness a stable and healthy development.

Matache said he was very delighted to visit China and his visit was based on the establishment of friendly ties between the two armies and frequent mutual visits of the two nations' military officials.

Romania values its friendly ties with the Chinese army, Matache said, pledging that Romania would continue to make efforts to push forward the relations between two armies and two nations.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2004)