On January 14, Premier Zhu Rongji met with visiting Turkish Justice and Development Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Great Hall of the People.

Zhu recalled his last year’s visit to Turkey, saying that the ancient culture, beautiful sceneries and construction achievements of Turkey have left deep impression on him. He said that Sino-Turkish friendly relations of cooperation have developed smoothly since the two countries established diplomatic ties three decades ago. Noting the frequent exchange of high-level visits between the two countries and the increasingly deepened cooperation in various fields, Zhu said that developing bilateral friendly relations of cooperation not only benefits the two countries and the two peoples, but also helps maintain regional peace, stability and development. Zhu also expressed his high appreciation for the current visit of the Turkish Justice and Development Party chairman to China soon after the party became the ruling party of Turkey. He said that the Chinese side is ready to make joint efforts with the Turkish side in continuing to promote bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, trade and cultural fields and on regional and international issues, and substantially pushing ahead bilateral friendly relations of cooperation in an overall, sound and sustainable way.  

Zhu spoke highly of the Turkish government’s adherence to the position that Xinjiang is an indivisible part of the Chinese territory, and that Turkey does not allow anyone to use its territory to conduct any activities aimed at splitting China.

On bilateral economic cooperation and trade, Zhu said that in recent years bilateral trade volume has been on the increase on a yearly basis, and the trade imbalance is also diminishing. He said that the Chinese side hopes to keep this trend going and believes that bilateral economic and trade relations will be furthered through the enhancement of contacts and exchanges between the business communities in the two countries. Pointing out that China will host the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo, Zhu said that China welcomes the Turkish businesses to participate in the bid of relevant projects, which will be facilitated by the Chinese government. Zhu also mentioned that China encourages Chinese businesses to invest in Turkey.

Noting that bilateral cooperation in various fields has made substantial achievements in recent years, Erdogan said that the Turkish government will continue to adhere to the One China policy, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, fight against terrorism of any form and is willing to establish anti-terrorism cooperation with China.

Erdogan said that the good bilateral political relations have laid a solid foundation for the development of bilateral trade and economic ties. He also said that Turkey wishes to strengthen cooperation with China in infrastructure construction and tourism, and the Turkish businesses are ready to take an active part in the construction projects of the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo.

The two sides also exchanged opinions on the Iraqi issue, both holding that the Iraqi issue should be settled peacefully in the UN framework and a new war is not desired in this region.