On April 21, 2004, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The two sides highly appraised China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation, and would like to make joint efforts to push forward development of this partnership.
Li Zhaoxing said that Sino-Russian friendly cooperation, built on a solid fundament, boasts a huge potential and excellent prospects. China would like to work together with Russia to further implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, maintain the exchanges of top-level visits, enhance mutual political trust, boost the strategic partnership in all areas and safeguard the common interests of the two countries. China would also like to broaden non-governmental and build a civil basis for development of bilateral relations. China will make good preparations for such celebrating activities as the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia and the Year of Friendship between the Youths of China and Russia. Li thanked Russia for its adherence to the one-China policy and its support for China's stance at the just-ended session of the UN Human Rights Commission.
Lavrov said that Russia values Russian-Chinese strategic partnership of cooperation, actively implements the consensus reached by the two heads of state, firmly adheres to the one-China policy, opposes "Taiwan independence" and will enrich the cooperation between the two sides in all areas so as to push the bilateral relations to a new high.
The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest, and unanimously agreed to enhance consultations and cooperation within the framework of the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. After the talks, they met with journalists together and answered the questions from the press.