Xi, Papua New Guinea's governor-general exchange congratulations over 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Bob Dadae, governor-general of Papua New Guinea, on Monday exchanged congratulations on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In his message, Xi noted that Papua New Guinea is a good friend, good partner and good brother of China in the Pacific island region. Over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries have deepened political mutual trust, achieved fruitful results in mutually beneficial cooperation, and expanded people-to-people exchanges, raising bilateral relations to new heights, Xi said. These achievements have benefited the two peoples and injected strong impetus into building a China-Pacific Island countries community with a shared future, said Xi. Noting that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Papua New Guinea relations, Xi said that he stands ready to work with Dadae to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to carry forward traditional friendship, strengthen exchanges and cooperation across various fields, and elevate the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Papua New Guinea to a new level, so as to deliver greater benefits to the two peoples. For his part, Dadae said that over the past 50 years, bilateral relations have made significant progress, benefiting both countries and their peoples. Papua New Guinea cherishes the longstanding friendship with China, firmly upholds the one-China principle, and looks forward to taking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to further deepen and advance bilateral relations, he said. On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also exchanged congratulations with Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape. China is willing to work with Papua New Guinea to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and advance the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Papua New Guinea, Li said in the message. For his part, Marape said that the Papua New Guinean government highly appreciates China's significant contributions to the country's economic and social development. Papua New Guinea will continue to uphold the one-China principle it has long adhered to, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China across various fields and advance the development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, said Marape.