Enduring friendship with Bangladesh hailed

Mutual political support, the Belt and Road, infrastructure buildup and the maritime economy were among the highlights of Friday's talks between President Xi Jinping and Muhammad Yunus, visiting chief adviser of the Bangladeshi interim government.

"China's policy of good neighborliness and friendship toward Bangladesh maintains a high degree of stability and continuity", and is "oriented to the entirety of the Bangladeshi people", Xi told Yunus at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday morning.

Since the launch of the Bangladeshi interim government in August last year, Chinese companies have maintained the momentum of their investment in the South Asian country, and Touhid Hossain, adviser for foreign affairs of the Interim Government of Bangladesh, made a successful visit to China in January.

Analysts said that Friday's talks further manifested China's support for the Bangladeshi interim government and its unchanged sincerity for the South Asian neighbor.

China is ready to work with Bangladesh to advance the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road, and to develop cooperation in areas such as the digital economy, green economy, maritime economy, infrastructure construction and water conservancy, Xi said.

In addition, Beijing is willing to enhance people-to-people exchanges and boost mutual understanding and affinity among their peoples, he said.

Yunus said that the two countries should deepen cooperation in co-building the Belt and Road, and Bangladesh welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country to promote its economic transformation.

He pointed out that the two countries share a deep friendship, and have always enjoyed mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual trust, adding that China is a reliable partner and friend of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh steadfastly supports the one-China principle and opposes "Taiwan independence", Yunus added.

A joint news release issued by the two countries on Friday outlined priorities for bilateral cooperation in the near future, including boosting infrastructure buildup in Bangladesh and aspects such as free trade and maritime cooperation.

"The two sides underscored the importance to initiate negotiations on the China-Bangladesh Free Trade Agreement at an early date and officially start negotiations on optimizing the China-Bangladesh Investment Agreement," the statement said. The two sides agreed to realize the early export of high-quality Bangladeshi products to China, including fresh mangoes.

Both nations agreed to strengthen exchanges on maritime affairs and "hold a new round of Dialogue on Maritime Cooperation at an appropriate time", according to the statement.

Yunus arrived in China on Wednesday to attend the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia.

Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang met him in Boao, Hainan province, on Thursday, and Vice-President Han Zheng met him in Beijing on Friday.

China has been Bangladesh's largest trade partner for 15 consecutive years.

Officials noted that China is the country that has invested the most in Bangladesh since the interim government was established in August.

"Over this period, at least 14 Chinese companies have invested over $230 million in Bangladesh, covering manufacturing sectors such as textiles and garments, baggage, footwear, wigs and so forth," Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen wrote in a recent article.

When meeting with Bangladesh's new ambassador to China, Nazmul Islam, last month in Beijing, Vice-Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said that China has always given priority to Bangladesh when rolling out its neighborly diplomacy, and it firmly upholds the principle of noninterference in internal affairs.

On Friday, Xi told Yunus that the two sides should "keep deepening political mutual trust and firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns".

China supports Bangladesh in safeguarding its state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and exploring its own path of development in line with its national conditions, he added.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, as well as the China-Bangladesh Year of People-to-People Exchanges.

Yunus said that Bangladesh is willing to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to work with China to promote greater development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.