On September 11, 2004, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Prime Minister Abdul Qader Bajammal met respectively with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

The two leaders indicated that China is not only a big country that stresses principles and values friendship, but also a reliable friend of the Yemeni people. Yemen and China, who respect each other and treat each other as equals, have witnessed their traditional friendship increasingly deepened and areas of cooperation continuously expanded. Yemen is thankful to China for providing sincere support for Yemen's unification cause and economic development over a long period of time. Yemen appreciates the achievements of China in economic development, attaches importance to China's experience and hopes to strengthen bilateral cooperation in politics, economy and trade, infrastructure construction and construction of the free zone.

President Saleh stressed that Yemen resolutely adheres to the one-China policy, supports China's lofty cause of reunification and firmly opposes the "Taiwan independence", just as it makes efforts to safeguard its own unification.

Li Zhaoxing said that both China and Yemen are nations with ancient civilizations and the traditional friendship between the two countries can be dated back to the 6th century A.D. The two peoples, which shared the same experiences in the past, are now facing common tasks of development and have been supporting each other in the cause of safeguarding national unification, protecting state sovereignty and developing economy. China thanks the Yemeni government for its precious support offered on the issues related to Taiwan and human rights. China would like to make joint efforts with Yemen to promote continuous development of the bilateral friendly cooperation.

On September 10, Li Zhaoxing met with Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ahmed Mohammed Sofan. The two sides exchanged views mainly on enhancing bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

On the same day, Li Zhaoxing visited Aden, a city in the southern part of Yemen, where he met with the governor of the Province of Aden, made a tour of the port of Aden and Al-Hiswa Power Station and called on the working staff of the Chinese Consulate General in Aden, representatives of Chinese-invested businesses and medical teams, as well as Chinese engineers and technicians who assist in constructing the power station.