China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China is ready to work with Singapore to continue marching forward hand-in-hand on the road of modernization and deliver more benefits to the people of both countries.

Xi made the remarks in a meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai on the sidelines of the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Peru's capital Lima.

"It gives me great pleasure to meet with your, Prime Minister Wong Shyun Tsai, and I'd like to congratulate you on your inauguration as the fourth prime minister of Singapore. China and Singapore are friendly neighbors and each other's important cooperative partner. Under the careful nurturing of successive generations of leaders of both nations, China-Singapore relations have continued to grow, setting an example of mutual benefit and common development between countries," Xi said.

"At present, both China and Singapore are at a critical stage of national development, and next year will mark the 35th anniversary of our diplomatic ties. China is ready to work with Singapore to continue marching forward hand-in-hand on the road of modernization, open a new chapter of high-quality cooperation, and push forward the steady development of bilateral relations, so as to bring more benefits to the people of our two countries and jointly make even greater contributions to world peace, stability and prosperity," he said.

Wong, for his part, said Singapore is also ready to work even closer with China and push bilateral ties to new heights.

"I'm very happy to have the chance to meet you for the first time. Our relationship is in excellent shape, our economic ties are strong, and we have continued high-level exchanges. I look forward very much to our bilateral ties continuing to grow stronger and to working closely together to take our relations to a new chapter and to even greater heights," he said.

This year's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting takes place on Friday and Saturday under the theme "Empower, Include, Grow", gathering heads of state and other dignitaries from 21 member economies across the Asia-Pacific region, including China, the United States, and other major economies in Southeast Asia.

China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

China to march forward hand-in-hand with Singapore on road of modernization: Xi

The harmonious relationship between Brazil and China is due to mutual respect for sovereignty and each other's rights to decide their own development paths, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an interview with China Central Television prior to Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Brazil.

"A first thing I learned in my career as a politician is to respect the territorial and cultural sovereignty of every country, and the sovereignty of every country to decide their best governance and administration systems. I respect this sovereignty. It's not whether the Brazilian president likes or dislikes China's model. It's the Chinese people who should like China's model. And it's not China, but the Brazilian people who should like Brazil's model. See, if we respect this right, everything would be much easier. In state-to-state relations, we should look for commonalities rather than differences. We should not focus on those differences. If we can do this, we will have harmonious relations with all other countries in the world," said the Brazilian president.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil. Despite differences in political systems, history and culture, the two countries enjoy a non-confrontational relationship and close cooperation on satellite, space, climate, trade, cultural exchanges and many other fields, setting an partnership example for all countries in the world.

After attending the the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru on Friday and Saturday and completing his ongoing state visit to Peru, Xi will travel to Rio de Janeiro to attend the 19th G20 Summit and pay a state visit to Brazil at the invitation of Lula da Silva from Nov 17 to 21.

Brazil's good relations with China based on respect for sovereignty: president