Chinese President Hu Jintao met Thursday with a delegation of the Party of European Socialists (PES) headed by the party's president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

Hu, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), highlighted the important role the PES played in European political affairs, adding that the CPC values its ties with the PES and the two sides share identical or similar views on many significant international issues.

The CPC would, in a spirit of shelving ideological difference and seeking for mutual understanding and cooperation, strengthen friendly exchange and cooperation with the PES and its member parties on the basis of independence, equality, mutual respect and non-intervention in each other's internal affairs, Hu said.

China would make its utmost efforts to step up the China-EU all-round strategic partnership to promote long-lasting peace, common prosperity and harmony of the world, the Chinese president noted.

Rasmussen spoke positively about CPC's efforts to promote social harmony and China's achievements in social and economic development he witnessed during the visit, saying that China and the European Union (EU) share more and more common interests with the rapid development of globalization.

He expressed his hope that China could play a bigger role in international affairs, pledging that the PES would work hard to push forward the candid exchange and mutually beneficial cooperation between the CPC and PES, and among China and the EU members.

He also extended his congratulations to Hu on the successful practice of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2007)