China, Laos pledge closer military ties

China and Laos pledged closer military ties, as senior Chinese military officials met with visiting Lao Defense Minister Sengnuan Saiyalath on Wednesday in Beijing.

With long-standing solidarity and friendship between the two countries and militaries and their fruitful cooperation in various fields, China and Laos are good neighbors, friends, comrades and partners, said Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Xu called on the two sides to step up all-round cooperation, sustain sound development momentum and prepare for the next stage.

Sengnuan agreed that the two militaries have been supporters of each other for a long time and enjoy a profound friendship.

"Laos is willing to learn from China's experiences in army building and further strengthen bilateral friendship and military relations," Sengnuan said.

Sengnuan also held talks with his Chinese counterpart Chang Wanquan later of the day and expressed gratefulness for the military assistance from China.

Chang noted that it is the common aspiration and responsibility of both two sides to consolidate and deepen their traditional friendship, which was jointly nurtured by the two countries' founding fathers.

China is willing to make joint efforts with Laos to boost high-level military exchanges, advance practical cooperation, strengthen border defense exchanges, and deepen multilateral security cooperation, to constantly push bilateral military ties to a higher level, Chang said. Endi