On October 11 2004, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui met with the visiting First Minister of Scotland McConnell and his delegation.

Zhang noted that the Chinese side appreciates the active efforts of the Scotland administrative authorities as well as the First Minister to push forward the bilateral relations. He said that China is wiling to learn the valuable experiences of economic and social development from Scotland and promote the political relations between the two sides and mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields.

McConnell was satisfied with the close relations that has been established between Scotland and China and hoped to take practical measures to promote the friendship and cooperation with China in order to make Scotland a trustable reciprocal cooperative partner of China in the fields such as economy and trade, finance, science and technology, education and culture.

McConnell's visit was upon the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Besides Beijing, he will also visit China.