Visiting Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan on Sunday met with former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, both reaffirming their commitment to enhance bilateral ties.

Tang praised Prescott's efforts in promoting friendly cooperation between the two countries.

Sino-British relations have enjoyed a good momentum of development in recent years, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a successful visit to China last month, said Tang.

He noted that during Brown's visit, the two countries agreed to establish a Sino-British financial and economic dialogue at vice prime minister's level, to boost the bilateral trade volume to 60 billion US dollars by 2010, and to strengthen exchange and cooperation in the fields of energy, education, science and technology, climate change, sustainable development, and the Olympics.

China values the development of relations between the two countries, Tang said, while reaffirming that China is willing to work together with Britain to further deepen bilateral relations.

For his part, Prescott said that China has played an active and constructive role in international communities and that Britain needs to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with China in bilateral and international affairs.

Tang left Beijing on Saturday for visits to Britain and Japan at the invitation of the governments of the two countries.

Tang, as Chinese President Hu Jintao's special envoy, will also visit South Korea to attend the inauguration ceremony of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak scheduled for Feb. 25.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2008)