State Councilor and Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan arrived in Dar es Salaam Wednesday to start a three-day visit to Tanzania. 

Cao, who is also vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, reviewed bilateral ties and cooperation with Tanzanian Defense Minister Philemon Mikol Sarungi shortly after arrival.

He spoke highly of Tanzania's peace-loving role in East Africa and thanked his Tanzanian host for cherishing the one-China principle and supporting China in its reunification cause.

Cao described the long-standing ties and friendly cooperation between China and Tanzania as exemplary for developing countries in that the ties and cooperation have weathered ups and downs on international arena.

Sarungi said that Tanzanian-Chinese friendship has a very long history and that China is the cooperation partner Tanzania can trust most. He thanked China for its assistance and support in the past four decades.

Present at the meeting of the two defense ministers were Hu Yanlin, commissar of the Chinese Navy, Liu Chengjun, deputy commander of the Chinese Air Force, and George Marwa Waitara, commander of the Tanzanian People's Defense Forces.

Tanzania is the second stop on Cao's four-nation tour of Africa and Europe.

The visit has taken Cao to Egypt and will take him to the Netherlands and Denmark as well.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2005)