Tajik Lower House speaker meets with Chen Bingde

Shukurjon Zuhurov, speaker of the Lower House of the Parliament of the Republic of Tajikistan, met with Gen. Chen Bingde, member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) who was on an official goodwill visit to Tajikistan, on June 6, 2012 at the Tajik parliament house, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Zuhurov said the Tajik side is grateful to the Chinese side for its selfless assistance and strong support since the independence of Tajikistan and gives priority to its relations with China in its foreign policies. The Tajik side firmly supports the one-China policy.

Chen Bingde said the bilateral relations have been developing smoothly as evidenced by fruitful pragmatic cooperation in various fields under the leadership of the heads of the two countries. Following the relations between the two countries, the two militaries have conducted effective and pragmatic cooperation within the bilateral framework and the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in recent years.

Chen Bingde also said that the Chinese side is satisfied with the development status of the relations between the two militaries and is willing to work together with the Tajik side to further carry out mutually beneficial cooperation in such fields as high-level contacts, personnel training, military education and joint military exercises.

The two sides also exchanged views on issues including regional security situation and reached broad consensus.