H.E. Major General Pawan Bahadur Pande,

Dear friends from Army Command and Staff College,

Good afternoon! I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to communicate with all of you at the esteemed Nepalese Army Command and Staff College.

China and Nepal, and their peoples have established harmony relationship and deep friendship since ancient times. Since 1955, when the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the bilateral exchanges and cooperation in politics, economy, culture, sport, religion, education and other aspects has developed continuously and the content of our comprehensive cooperative partnership featuring ever-lasting friendship have been constantly enriched.

Last month, Premier Wen Jiabao paid an official visit to Nepal. During the visit, Premier Wen met with the senior leaders of both Nepali Government and major political parties of Nepal. Both sides had an in-depth exchange of views and reached broad consensus on Nepal-China relations as well as common-concerned issues. To ensure a successful visit, your esteemed Nepali side has made detailed and thoughtful arrangements for the political, protocol, security and all the other aspects of the official visit. The Nepalese army, police, armed police and other forces made a thorough plan and took effective measures to secure this historical visit.

Meanwhile, the exchanges between Chinese and Nepalese Army have maintained an all-dimensional, multitier and wide-ranging trend in recent years, which has laid a concrete foundation for mutual trust and understanding. Early last year, General Chen Bingde, Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army of China, visited Nepal while Chief of Army Staff General Chatraman Singh Gurung visited China at the end of October, 2011. The two armies had achieved high-level exchange visits on the Chief of Staff level. During their respective visit, both sides deeply exchanged their views on military exchanges and training, logistical support, medical facilities and non-traditional security issues and other related matters, and signed several agreements on cooperation and assistance.

At present, the peace process in Nepal has entered a critical stage. The Chinese side sincerely wishes and hopes that the peace and constitutional process would be completed as soon as possible, and would embark on the road of rapid economic and social development. China wishes to continue to play a constructive role in the historical process, and provide support and help to Nepal within its capacity. China will always make joint efforts with Nepali side to continuously push forward comprehensive cooperative partnership featuring ever-lasting friendship, and to ensure that the two countries will always be good neighbors, good friends and good partners.

Looking into the future of Chinese diplomacy, China will continue to adhere to an independent foreign policy of peace, and unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and a win-win strategy of opening up. China will be committed to developing friendship and cooperation with all other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and will follow the foreign policy of friendship and partnership, strengthen good-neighborly relations and practical cooperation with them, and energetically engage in regional cooperation in order to jointly create a peaceful, stable regional environment featuring equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation. For other developing countries, we will continue to increase solidarity and cooperation with them, cement traditional friendship, expand practical cooperation, provide assistance to them within our ability, and uphold the legitimate demands and common interests of developing countries. The Chinese people will continue to work tirelessly with the people of Nepal to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity

Thank you!