CRI听力:China, UK Agree to Deepen Co-op in Infrastructure, Energy

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are co-chairing the China-Britain strategic dialogue in Beijing.

Yang and Hammond agree that both nations will continue to deepen cooperation in infrastructure, energy, finance and other areas, support more exchanges at local levels, and push bilateral ties to a new level.

Yang says China and Britain have garnered fruitful results from their recent high-level exchanges in areas of economy, trade, finance and culture, and the two nations have maintained effective dialogue and coordination in international affairs.

"China and the UK are countries with profound international influence in the international community. I hope our countries can work together to consistently expand our coordination and cooperation in global and regional affairs."

The two also talked about the preparations for President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to the UK.

Hammond says Britain will work with China to ensure a complete success of the visit. He also offers condolences for the massive blast occurred Wednesday night in Tianjin.

"I offer you our condolences for the disaster that occurred yesterday in Tianjin. I was in the city just a couple of hours before the explosions took place. I would like to congratulate the prompt response of the authorities in seeking to minimize the loss of life."

President Xi is scheduled to pay a state visit to Britain in October this year at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II.

British foreign secretary Philip Hammond is in Beijing for a series of meetings connected to security.

He says he had "an excellent discussion" with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and both sides are ready to push forward China-UK ties to the next level of global partnership.

Hammond made the remark at a press conference Thursday in Beijing.

Our reporter Liu Kun attends the press conference and files this report.

British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond says the UK and China are now ready to move beyond their traditional trade and investment ties and the upcoming October visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping will be an opportunity to catalyze this new ambition.

"We are determined that we will use the opportunity of the state visit to take Britain and China's bilateral relationship to the next level and to set out our ambitions for a global partnership for the 21st century, to address security hotspot around the world, to enhance development in Africa and to lead the climate change debate."

Specifically, Hammond says the UK and China are now looking for energy investment opportunities in Africa, which will not only benefit the two countries commercially, but also realize their joint commitment to African development.

"Britain and China already have an important energy relationship. But I think energy is the area where we are able to collaborate in third countries. This is really what we are trying to do in Africa: looking for opportunities at the same time deliver commercial benefit to Britain and China, but also contribute to development in Africa."

Looking to the recent past, Hammond referred to the fight against the Ebola crisis in west Africa as a good example where the UK and China showed willingness and capability to cooperate to address global challenges.

"We've already had very positive experience working together in response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa where China provided a level of commitment and support to that project which is uNPRecedented and where Britain led the response in Sierra Leone. So we will look for additional opportunities where we could work together, learn from each other's strength and build effective mechanism to tackle many challenges including development challenges around the world."

Citing British Prime Minster David Cameron, Hammond says he thinks the UK-China relationship is entering a "golden era."

Adding on the plans for more political and international cooperation, Hammond also showed confidence in the growth of traditional trade and investment between the two countries. He says he expects Britain will surpass Germany and become China's No.1 trade partner in Europe as China's economy moves to the next phase with a greater focus on services.

This is Hammond's first trip to China since becoming British Foreign Secretary last year.

His trip saw him co-hosting the China-UK Strategic Dialogue with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, delivering a speech at China's elite Peking University and visiting an Airbus Factory in Tianjin.

The two day visit is largely seen as a preparation for Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the UK in this coming October.