Chinese defense minister meets foreign guests

BEIJING -- Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Tuesday met with representatives of various countries attending the first forum of military academies' presidents from the member states of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

During the meeting, Wei said China attaches great importance to promoting the development of the CICA.

China is ready to work with all sides to advocate common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, deepen military exchanges and cooperation under the CICA mechanism and lay a solid foundation for common security, Wei said.

In doing so, China and various parties will contribute to the building of an Asian community with a shared future, he added.

Speaking on behalf of the representatives of various countries, Dok Sopha, deputy rector of the National Defense University of Cambodia, said the representatives agree that dialogue and cooperation among armed forces of various countries should be further strengthened to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability.

Tuesday also saw a meeting between Wei and visiting Hungarian Defense Minister Tibor Benko, during which Wei hailed the traditional friendship between the two countries, close high-level military exchanges and fruitful bilateral cooperation in various areas.

Wei expressed the Chinese side's willingness to take the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries as an opportunity to further strengthen strategic communication, expand areas of cooperation, boost personnel exchanges and promote the sustained and healthy development of relations between the two countries and the two armed forces.

Benko said Hungary firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests and is willing to strengthen high-level dialogues and strategic consultations with China, deepen practical military cooperation and constantly enrich the connotation of bilateral military relations.