On February 7 local time, President Xi Jinping met with Milos Zeman, the President of the Czech Republic in Sochi, Russia.

Xi Jinping expressed that China and the Czech Republic enjoy profound traditional friendship. It is the common aspiration of the two peoples to maintain a steady development of China-Czech relations. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of China-Czech diplomatic relationship and the new term of the Czech government has just come into office. Both sides should take these as a brand-new beginning and reach a new consensus on the guiding principles and chart the cause for China-Czech relations so as to bring the relations to a new level by pushing forward the cooperation in the fields of manufacturing, infrastructure construction, new energy, agriculture, medical care, investment and others.

Xi Jinping pointed out that China attaches importance to the status and role of Europe, supports the process of European integration and is optimistic about the development prospect of Europe. The Czech Republic is an important country in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as well as a member of the European Union (EU). China values its unique role in the EU, appreciates the positive dedication it has made to promoting China-CEE cooperation, and is ready to work together with the Czech Republic to promote the development of China-Europe relations and enhance cooperation between China and CEE countries.

Zeman said that the Czech Republic highly praises China’s development and fully acknowledges the huge potential of the development of Czech-China relations. The Czech Republic adheres to the One China policy and is willing to comprehensively develop relations with China on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, to reinforce political exchanges, to expand cooperation in the areas of economy and trade and investment, to promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, to deepen friendship and to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. The Czech Republic is willing to make positive contribution to the development of Europe-China relations and CEE-China relations.

Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Yang Jiechi and others were present at the meeting.