Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met in Beijing Thursday afternoon with his Hungarian counterpart Szekeres Imre, pledging to step up the defense cooperation between the two armed forces.

"The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is ready to make joint efforts with the Hungarian side to continuously expand the cooperation fields between the two sides and promote the multi-level development of military-to-military ties in various fields, " said Liang, who is also state councilor.

He said the relationship between the two armed forces is at a period of sound development, and he hoped the two armed forces will work together to contribute to world peace and stability.

Szekeres, who is here to watch the Beijing Olympic Games, said the Hungarian and Chinese armed forces have shared very good relations and should make joint efforts to further promote the development of such relations.

He spoke highly of the PLA's high-level and high-quality relief efforts after the May 12 massive earthquake in China's Sichuan Province, and said he believed the Beijing Olympic Games will surely be a great success.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)