Hu Jintao, president of the People's Republic of China, said this on Feb. 14 when he received credentials from Ji Jae Ryong, DPRK ambassador to China.

China and Korea are friendly neighbors sharing mountain and rivers and the two peoples have long and deep relations, Hu said. The traditional Sino-DPRK friendship, provided and fostered by the leaders of the elder generation, is steadily developing in the new century, too, he added.

Recalling that General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited China twice last year, Hu said: I had unions with Kim Jong Il twice a year, and we reached an in-depth consensus of views on important issues.

This put great spurs to the development of the bilateral relations, he said, adding:

Recently the economic and trade relations have developed and visits and exchange and cooperation in different fields made brisk headway between the two countries, and they are deepening mutual understanding in major international issues.

We fully support the DPRK's efforts to develop the economy and improve the people's standard of living.

The Chinese side will deepen the strategic mutual understanding with the DPRK side and steadily develop the traditional Sino-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations, thus defending the regional peace and stability and promoting the common development.