BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met with visiting EU Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner on Wednesday and vowed to strengthen the bilateral partnership of cooperation.

    Tang said China-EU relations are of strategic importance and are developing soundly. The two sides are working closer together in major regional and international issues, and are reaching greater consensus as they face up to the challenges of globalization.

    He said China attaches great importance to the signing of an agreement on a cooperative partnership with the European Union, and hopes the two sides can make active efforts to reach an agreement that will embody the overall situation of the China-EU relations and promote a long-term, stable and sound development of the relations.

    Waldner agreed with Tang's remarks on the importance of the China-EU relations. She said the bilateral relations are developing soundly at present.

    China's fast growth and the EU's expansion will benefit the development of China-EU relations, she said.

    The European Union is willing to work with China to further push forward the bilateral relations, she noted.

    The two sides also exchanged views on some other regional and international issues including China-Japan relations, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and the Iran nuclear issue.

    Waldner is in Beijing for an official visit to China from Jan. 16 to 18 at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.