China attaches great importance to the further development of Sino-Cambodian relations under the new circumstances, said top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo in Beijing Monday.

 Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), made the remarks at a meeting with Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who attended the third International Conference of Asian Political Parties that concluded here Sunday.

Wu, also a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said Sino-Cambodian traditional friendship, cultivated by leaders of elder generations of the two countries, has withstood the test of time and current international changes. The friendship has become a treasure of the two nations.
 
In the past few years, Wu said, China and Cambodia have witnessed political mutual trust, reciprocal economic cooperation and close cooperation in international affairs, and bilateral friendship has benefited the two peoples.

China hopes that both sides will strengthen exchanges in various fields such as economic and trade cooperation, as well as people-to-people contacts, said Wu.

Ranariddh, who is president of the FUNCINPEC party and president of the Cambodian National Assembly, presented Wu a written statement of the FUNCINPEC party on the Taiwan issue.

He statement says that the FUNCINPEC party will, as always, follow the one-China policy, and firmly support the principle of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems" and the eight-point proposition on promoting a peaceful reunification made by the then Chinese President Jiang Zemin in 1995.

It also strongly condemns any words or deeds aiming at splitting China and firmly opposes "Taiwan independence" in any form.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2004)