BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan pledged Monday to maintain high-level military exchanges and cooperation with Finland in a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Jussi Niinisto in Beijing.
Chang called China and Finland good friends and partners, and lauded bilateral ties as a paradigm of mutually-beneficial cooperation between countries with different national conditions and social systems.
The militaries have maintained close high-level contact, Chang said, adding that cooperation in areas of expertise had improved and exchanges in various areas and at different levels had been enhanced.
He said the Chinese side was ready to maintain military exchanges and cooperation with the Finnish side at a high level, and make contributions to in-depth development of ties.
Niinisto said China is a very important cooperation partner of Finland, and that bilateral defense cooperation has a huge potential.
He said Finland was ready to improve exchanges and cooperation in such areas as personnel training and military drills.
