Afghanistan, China are friendly neighbors: Ambassador

Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan Deng Xijun has described the two countries as friendly neighbors and hoped the bilateral relations would get closer in the years ahead.

"Afghanistan and China are close and friendly neighbors. Both countries are not only linked by the same mountains, but also bonded by common interests and destiny," Deng said in his address to Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) on Wednesday.

As a friendly neighbor, the ambassador said his country consistently participated in the Afghan peace and reconstruction process over the past decade.

"China has provided to Afghanistan large amount of assistance without any preconditions, helping build projects of hospitals, schools, roads, irrigation systems and office buildings, offering a large quantity of equipments, financing more than 1,000 officials to be trained in China and provide scholarship for hundreds of students to study in China," he said.

Deng added that Beijing hopes the "Afghan-led, Afghan-owned" peace process will make substantial progress at an early date, saying that China will continue to provide assistance within its own capacity through bilateral and multilateral channels, and encourage the capable Chinese companies to invest and do business in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai paid his fifth state visit to China last September, making the new historical starting point of the China-Afghanistan relationship, he said.

"China hopes to see a united, stable, developing and amicable Afghanistan and will continue to help Afghanistan improve its ability of self-development and capability building in all fields," the ambassador stressed.