China, Serbia vow to strengthen ties

Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie ended a two-day visit to Serbia Tuesday as the two sides vowed to strengthen their military cooperation, officials said.

On Monday, Serbian President Boris Tadic said after meeting with Liang Belgrade "supports intensifying military and police cooperation between the two countries", a statement from the presidency said.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic also praised a "high level of cooperation" between the two countries, saying that "military-economic cooperation will be further intensified in the coming months: through an exchange of experiences in peace missions, cooperation between defence industries and military staff education."

Before leaving Serbia, Liang visited Serbia's third largest city Nis, in the southern part of the country, touring military facilities there, Beta news agency reported.

The visit, the first by a Chinese defence minister in 25 years, came at the invitation of Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac, who said that "military cooperation will further strengthen bilateral ties" between Beijing and Belgrade.

Sutanovac visited Beijing last year and signed an agreement on cooperation in defence matters. He then insisted that there "are big prospects for expanding military cooperation between the two countries," local media reported.

The cooperation would include "military medicine, military training, military economics, military science, as well as peacekeeping operations", Beta said.

The two ministers also discussed "global military challenges such as terrorism, organised crime and other criminal activities", it added.

"We expressed our mutual desire to cooperate in combating these threats and exchanging information," Sutanovac was quoted as saying.

Liang's visit came after Tadic held talks in China last month, when the two countries announced the establishment of a strategic partnership between them.

The two nations have enjoyed strong ties since China refused to recognise the independence of Kosovo when it split from Serbia last year, and Beijing offered Belgrade support in its diplomatic battle against the move.