During his meeting in Beijing Tuesday with Toyoda Shoichiro, honorary chairman of the Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan, Wu said China valued cooperation with Toyota as there exists between them a fairly sound cooperative base.

Toyoda said he had attended a ceremony in Tianjin municipality earlier on Tuesday marking the completion of the Vios, a new model Toyota car produced in Tianjin, a leading industrial center in north China.

Moreover, Toyoda expressed the hope to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in automobile development, production and sales, and produce more car models.

It is understood that the Vios is the result of a deal signed on Aug. 29 between the China FAW Group Corporation and Toyota.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2002)