On February 5^th 2004, Assistant Minister Li Hui held consultations with Macedonian Vice Foreign Minister Hasanovic in Diaoyutai State Guest Hotel.

Assistant Minister Li said that since the normalization of relations between the two countries, bilateral ties have been recovered rapidly and witnessed positive development. Last year saw the culmination of the friendly relations between the two countries when they celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. China stands ready to make joint efforts with Macedonia to push the bilateral relations to a new high in the spirit of the Joint Statement Between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Macedonia on Consolidating and Promoting Their Friendly Relations and Cooperation singed by their heads of states. Li also expounded China's principled stance on the Taiwan issue to the visiting guest.

Hasanovic spoke highly of the important role that China plays in today's world, expressed appreciation for China's unremitting efforts and huge contributions made to safeguard the stability in South-Eastern Europe and thanked China for its support for the reasonable concerns of Macedonia in multilateral affairs. Hasanovic reiterated that Macedonia would resolutely pursue the "one-China" policy and would never accept any attempt crafted by the Taiwan Authorities to change the status quo of Taiwan.

The two sides mainly discussed scenarios for the development of their bilateral relations in 2004 and agreed that efforts should also be made to further promote economic and trade ties, boost exchanges in the fields of education, science and technology, culture and agriculture and establish new areas of cooperation while enhancing their political ties. The two sides also exchanged views on cooperation between their foreign ministries and the situation in South-Eastern Europe and reached a wide consensus.