(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-28 22:37

BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with his British counterpart David Miliband here Thursday, reaching a broad consensus on advancing bilateral and international cooperation.

Calling bilateral ties "better than ever", Yang said China-Britain relations were facing new opportunities. The two sides should work together to implement the agreements reached between the two leaders and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.

Yang said the talks with Miliband were "constructive" and "productive". The two sides agreed to continue to maintain high-level exchange of visits, further promote political mutual trust, continue to conduct dialogue on human rights and other areas.

The two countries also pledged to increase trade and the scale of mutual investment, strengthen cooperation on finance, education, science and technology, culture and the Olympics and boost youth exchanges, Yang said.

Hailing the remarkable achievements made in China, Miliband expressed the wish to conduct more cooperation and exchanges with China.

He backed the Beijing Olympics, saying the games should not be used to pressure Beijing over its human rights record, and a successful Olympics accorded with the interests of Britain and the world at large.

"We believe that the Olympics are an opportunity to celebrate the progress that has been achieved in China," he told reporters after the talks with Yang.

"From our point of view, engagement, not isolation, is the right way forward," he said.

Yang and Miliband agreed that the two countries would work closely on major international and regional issues with regard to enhancing the UN's role in peacekeeping and reconstruction, promoting more effective non-proliferation and substantial international efforts on reducing carbon emissions.

The two sides would promote China-EU cooperation and jointly face the challenges and opportunities of globalization and early realization of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

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