Top Chinese and German legislators signed in Beijing Wednesday a joint statement on formally setting up an exchange mechanism between parliaments of the two countries.  

The statement was signed after one hour of talks between Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Wolfgang Thierse, president of Germany's Federal Assembly.

Wu extended a warm welcome to Thierse, the first German Federal Assembly president to visit China.

"Your visit to China and the joint statement signed between us are landmark events....They will upgrade our relations to a new level and instill new vitality for the development of China-Germany strategic cooperative partnership," Wu told Thierse.

Wu hailed China-Germany relations, saying that the bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, culture, science and technology, education and environmental protection are producing significant results.

According to reports from German statistic bureau, China has become Germany's largest trade partner in Asia with annual bilateral trade volume topping 53.5 billion euros in 2004.

The Chinese top legislator said China appreciates Germany's long-term adherence to the one-China policy and its support to China's efforts of realizing peaceful reunification.

"China attaches great importance to Germany's role and influence in regional and international affairs and supports Germany to play a bigger role in the United Nations and other international or regional organizations," he said.

Wu said that he was also delighted with the development of China-EU relations, and that China is ready to expand consensus with the European Union through dialogue and cooperation.

"We hope Germany would play a constructive role in promoting China-EU relations," said Wu.

Thierse said the frequent exchange of high-level visits between the two countries greatly boosted the bilateral cooperative relations. He said Germany adheres to the one-China policy and this position will not change.

Thierse is in China for an official goodwill visit from April 23 to May 1. He and his delegation arrived in Beijing Wednesday evening after visiting the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2005)