China, Germany agree to further develop military ties

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China and Germany Wednesday pledged to strengthen bilateral military ties.

The pledge came out of a meeting between Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and visiting German Federal Minister of Defence Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

It was Xi's first meeting with a foreign guest from military circles since he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) in October.

Hailing the good development of China-Germany ties, Xi said the two countries' fruitful cooperation in technology, education, culture, tourism and energy has brought substantial benefit to the two nations' peoples.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to relations with Germany and will, as always, deal with it from a strategic, long-term point of view, Xi said.

Xi called on the two sides to further bilateral military ties, so as to contribute to the development of relations between the two countries.

Guttenberg described his China visit as fruitful, citing broad consensus reached in his talks with Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) leaders.

Guttenberg also expressed the hope for further cooperation between the countries and two armed forces.

Prior to meeting with Xi, Guttenberg had a meeting with Chief of the General Staff of PLA Chen Bingde. He had talks with his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie Tuesday.