Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos praised Sino-Cypriot friendship on Thursday when receiving credential from China's new Ambassador to Cyprus Zhao Yali.

Since the diplomatic ties were established 34 years ago, Cyprus and China have continuously strengthened and developed exchanges and cooperation in political, trade and cultural fields, said Papadopoulos.

Bilateral ties are currently witnessing an unprecedented pace of development and he expects to visit China next year, Papadopoulos said.

As a new member of the EU, Cyprus supports the bloc's development of ties with China, he added.

Cyprus also supports the EU's lift of a 16-year-old embargo on arms sales to China, Papadopoulos said, adding that it is unreasonable and unacceptable for the bloc to seek to expand economic and trade links with China on one hand while maintaining the ban on the other.

He further thanked the Chinese government for the support on the Cyprus issue.

For his part, Zhao expressed his appreciation of Cyprus's adherence to the one-China policy.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2005)