The upcoming official visit to China by Myanmar Prime Minister General Soe Win is bound to further push forward the development of the neighborly and friendly ties between China and Myanmar, said Chinese Ambassador Guan Mu on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua two days ahead of Soe Win 's trip, Guan said the Sino-Myanmar neighborly and friendly ties have a deep foundation. The peoples of the two countries, linked by mountains and rivers, have lived in harmony since ancient times and the two peoples enjoy a special traditional "Paukphaw" ( fraternal) friendship.

On the development of bilateral ties in recent years, Guan said, the Sino-Myanmar relations, built on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, have continuously developed with exchange and cooperation in all sectors expanding and deepening day by day.

He underlined some obvious characteristics in the development of Sino-Myanmar relations such as continuous maintenance of the tradition of reciprocal visits at high level; emergence of a good trend of mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation; effectiveness in drug control cooperation; continuous expanding of exchange in the sectors of culture, health, sports, information; and mutual support in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Guan said the Myanmar government as always adopts the "one- China" policy.

The Chinese Government supports Myanmar's efforts in safeguarding national independence and sovereignty; and opposes to foreign interference in Myanmar's internal affairs and holds that Myanmar affairs should be resolved by the government and the people themselves through coordination.

Guan stressed that as the two countries share a common border of over 2,000 kilometers, consolidation and enhancement of the already existing neighborly and friendly ties constitute an important part of China's diplomatic relation with its neighboring countries.

He pointed out that China sticks to its policies of maintaining good relations and partnership with neighbors, and will continue to implement all-sidedly with Myanmar the Joint Statement on Enhancing Bilateral Cooperative Ties in the Future signed in the beginning of this century to promote exchanges at high level, strengthen mutual trust politically, deepen economic and trade cooperation, promote joint development and bring benefit to the peoples of the two countries.

Since assuming office in October 2004, Prime Minister Soe Win has attended twice the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning and the 2005 Second Summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion held in Kunming.

According to Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy Tang Hai, China-Myanmar bilateral trade hit 1.209 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, up 5.6 percent from 2004. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 935 million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar stood at 274 million dollars.

The trade volume between China's Yunnan province and Myanmar, including the border trade, amounted to 630 million dollars, up 14. 6 percent over the previous year, Tang added.

Source: Xinhua