The Chinese Government appreciates the unremitting efforts made by Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and all concerned parties of the country to safeguard stability and promote national reconciliation.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue made these remarks Monday when commenting on the recent reshuffle of the Macedonian Government, noting that China is delighted to see that the peace agreement reached among all concerned parties of Macedonia is under implementation.
"China hopes that the Macedonian people of all ethnic groups will live together harmoniously and seek common development, which will promote peace, stability and the development of the country and the region,'' Zhang said.
Expressing China's eagerness to promote the continuous and sound development of bilateral relations with the reshuffled Macedonian Government, Zhang reiterated that all the principles enshrined in the joint communique on the normalization of relations between the two countries in June of this year should be followed.
China and Macedonia enjoyed co-operative relations from the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1993. But because of the sabotage by Taiwan authorities, bilateral relations suffered some setbacks after 1999. But in June, the two sides decided to normalize relations.
"The normalization of Sino-Macedonian relations is in the fundamental interest of the two peoples and reflects the common will of the vast majority of Macedonian political figures,'' said Zhang.
The Macedonian parliament on Friday approved the appointment of new cabinet members.
Vlado Popovski from the Liberal Party was appointed as the new defence minister, while Slobodan Cashule and Gjorgi Orovcanec from the New Democratic Party are to be the new foreign and health ministers.
(China Daily December 4, 2001)
