国内英语新闻:Chinese vice president meets Swedish king

STOCKHOLM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday met with Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, complimenting the Swedish royal family for their contributions to promoting relations between Sweden and China.

At the beginning of the meeting, Xi conveyed Chinese President Hu Jintao's compliments and best regards to the Swedish king, for which the Swedish king expressed his gratitude.

Xi said that 60 years ago Sweden led many Western countries in taking the initiative to establish diplomatic ties with the new China, a move which the Chinese government and people always highly appreciate.

Thanks to concerted efforts by both sides in more than half a century, the Sino-Swedish relationship has reached a mature phase featured with frequent exchange of high-level visits, steady increase in mutual political trust, close trade and economic ties, mutually beneficial cooperation in science and technology, education, culture and environment protection, and active interactions at the local government level and between the two peoples, Xi said.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to develop friendly and cooperative ties with Sweden and highly values the active role Sweden plays in EU and international affairs, the Chinese vice president said.

He said that the Swedish royal family has devoted themselves to promoting Swedish-Chinese exchange and friendship and made great contributions to the development of relations between the two countries.