The friendly relations between China and Colombia are
based on mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal
affairs, Colombian Congress President Hernan Andrade said in a recent
interview with Xinhua.
Colombia sticks to the one-China policy and opposes
the independence of Taiwan and Tibet, Andrade said, adding that his
country believes that China is capable of resolving these issues on its
own.
At the invitation of China’s top
legislator Wu Bangguo, Andrade will visit China on Jan. 8-16 at the
head of a Senate delegation.
Andrade told Xinhua that he was
looking forward to the visit and was expecting to personally see the
achievements of China’s reform and opening-up.
China and Colombia enjoy a profound
traditional friendship, Andrade said. The friendly ties have been
growing continuously and remarkable progress has been made in bilateral
exchanges and cooperation, he said.
Andrade praised China for sticking
to the path of peaceful development and said China’s 30 years of reform
and opening-up have not only been instrumental in achieving its fast
economic growth and drastically reducing poverty, but have also made
China more open and raised the country’s international standing.
And the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympic Games further boosted China’s image as a modern power, he said.
Meanwhile, Andrade welcomed China’s
first policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean region, which was
released in November last year.
Latin America’s integration is an
inevitable process in which China, with abundant capital and advanced
technology, can play an important role, to the benefit of both sides,
he said.
There are broad prospects for
cooperation in strengthening exchanges between the legislative bodies
of the two countries, and in infrastructure construction, energy
development, port construction and cultural and technological
exchanges.
Colombia welcomes investments from Chinese companies, he said.
Through joint efforts, bilateral ties will be promoted to a higher level, the congress president said. (Xinhua)