Hu, also a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks in a meeting with Win Myint, vice-president of the Union Solidarity and Development Association of Myanmar, and his delegation.

He said that Maung Aye, Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, visited China last June, and he paid a reciprocal visit to Myanmar a month later, where he received a warm reception and felt a deeply brotherly relationship between the two peoples.

The two countries are good neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, and their peoples have a time-honored friendship, the Chinese vice-president said, adding that despite great changes in the international situation and their respective domestic situations over the past five decades, Sino-Myanmese relations have been developing steadily.

China is willing to work with Myanmar to implement the China- Myanmar Joint Statement and other agreements, and further expand cooperation, so as to push forward bilateral good-neighborly relations in the 21st century, he said.

Win Myint, who is also the third secretary of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, said that Myanmar is grateful for China's support to Myanmar in developing its economy and safeguarding independence and sovereignty, and also for respecting its rights for a development path suited to its national conditions.

He said that Vice-President Hu's visit to Myanmar left a good memory for the Myanmese people, adding that during his current visit to China, he also felt a deep friendship between the two peoples, and the further growth of such a friendship is the common aspiration of the two countries.

(Xinhua 10/27/2000)