On the afternoon of May 30, 2005, Vice President Zeng Qinghong met with visiting Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker in the Great Hall of the People.

Zeng highly commented on the development of China-Chile relations, saying that Chile is the first South American country establishing diplomatic ties with China, supporting the restoration of China's legal seat in the United Nations, signing the bilateral agreement with China on China's entry into the World Trade Organization, recognizing China's full market economy status and launching the bilateral free trade negotiations with China, which represents the strongest evidence of the ever developing China-Chile friendly relations.

Zeng said that over the past 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Chile the bilateral friendship has got deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples. Especially in recent years the exchanges of high-level visit remain frequent, bilateral trade increases rapidly, bilateral cooperation in various fields moves ahead comprehensively and both sides closely coordinate with and support each other in international affairs. The leaders of both countries reached important consensus during the successful visit of President Hu to Chile last year. The Chinese government expects to work with the Chilean government to constantly push forward the partnership.

Walker sang high praise for China's great achievements in economic and social development, noting the two countries enjoy extensive and sound cooperation in bilateral and multilateral areas. He pointed out that China's friendly cooperation with Latin American countries gets increasingly close, China and Asia are increasingly important to Latin America and Chile stands ready to promote Latin America's relations with China and the rest of Asia.

The two sides also exchanged opinions on the international and regional issues of common concern.