ＮＰＣ Ｖｉｃｅ Ｃｈａｉｒｍａｎ Ｉｓｍａｉｌ Ａｍａｔ ＬｅａｄｓＣｈｉｎｅｓｅ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ Ｔｕｒｋｅｙ ａｎｄ Ｅｇｙｐｔ

A 9-member Chinese friendship delegation led by Ismail Amat， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and president of the China-Turkey Friendship Association (CTFA) and the China-Egypt Friendship Association (CEFA)， visited Turkey and Egypt from November 29 to December 9， 2003 at the invitation of Mr. Erkan Mumcu， minister of culture and tourism of Turkey， Mr. Kemal Baytas， president of the Turkey-China Friendship Association (TCFA)， and Mr. Youssef Amin Wali， Egyptian deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture and land reclamation and president of the Egypt-China Friendship Association (ECFA). Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer， Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Bülent Arinc， Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Erkan Mumcu， Governor of Istanbul Muamer Güler， Governor of Izmir Yusuf Ziya Goksu， Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid and Deputy Prime Minister Youssef Amin Wali， Speaker of the Egyptian People’s Assembly Ahmed Fathi Sorour， and Governor of Aswan Gen. Samir Youssef met with the delegation on separate occasions. Vice Chairman Ismail Amat had a working conference with TCFA President Baytas and a meeting with the leaders of the ECFA.

The Turkish Government and the Grand National Assembly highly praised the Turkey-China relations of friendship and cooperation and appreciated China’s principled stand on the bombing attacks in Istanbul. Vice Chairman Ismail Amat elaborated the Chinese Government’s position on the question of “East Turkistan”. The Turkish side expressed their understanding and support of the measures China has taken to fight the anti-China “East Turkistan” splittist forces.

The Vice Chairman’s visit to Turkey was made in the wake of several bombing attacks in Istanbul and the visit received high attention from the Turkish side. Mr. Ali Tuygan， deputy undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs， thanked the Vice Chairman for leading the delegation to Turkey when the country was at a time of difficulties. When interviewed by the reporters of the Turkish National Television (TNT)， the Vice Chairman said， the visit itself shows the confidence the Chinese Government has in the Turkish Government and its support for Turkish fight against terrorism. The Chinese Government and people strongly condemn the bombing attacks in Istanbul and express condolences to those who died in the bombing attacks and sympathy for the wounded and their families.

At the meetings with Turkish President Sezer and Speaker Arinc， Vice Chairman Ismail Amat conveyed to them greetings from Chinese President Hu Jintao and NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo. The President and the Speaker asked Ismail Amat to pass on their cordial regards to President Hu and Chairman Wu. President Sezer also expressed his gratitude to President Hu for sending him a message of sympathy after the bombing attacks. Talking about China-Turkey friendly relations with President Sezer， the Vice Chairman said: “The Chinese Government and people treasure dearly their traditional friendship with Turkey. Since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1971， the two sides have respected， understood and supported each other and the areas of cooperation between them have expanded continuously. Especially in recent years， the two countries have seen frequent high-level exchanges of visits， and continuous expansion of cooperation in the political， economic， cultural， educational， and other fields. The friendship between China and Turkey has become deep-rooted in the hearts of our two peoples.” He pointed out: “Both China and Turkey belong to the developing countries and have great influence in their respective regions and the world. It is in the long-term and fundamental interests of both peoples and also conducive to world peace and development to continue to expand and deepen the friendly cooperation between China and Turkey. China gives high appraisal of the unremitting efforts and the achievements made by the Turkish Government and people in their national reconstruction under the leadership of President Sezer and thanks the Turkish Government for sticking to the one-China position and the support it gives to China on many major international issues.” President Sezer extended his welcome to the Vice Chairman’s visit. He said， the friendship between Turkey and China has a long history. The traditional friendly sentiments between our two peoples are the basis of the political aspiration of our two countries for mutual friendship. Turkey and China， located at the two ends of the Asian continent， have played a positive role in maintaining peace and stability of their region and the world. There are not any political disputes existing between the two countries. Turkey attaches great importance to developing relations of cooperation with China in all fields， especially in the economic and trade fields. Turkey has always pursued the one-China policy and held that the return of Hong Kong and Macao has further strengthened China’s sovereignty.

At the meeting with Speaker Arinc， the Vice Chairman said that the relationship between the two Parliaments is an important component part of the relations between the two countries and that further strengthening contact and cooperation between the Parliaments and parliamentarians of our two countries will contribute to enhancing understanding and friendship between our two peoples and promoting exchanges and cooperation between localities of our two countries， thus adding new driving force to the all-round development of state relations. The National People’s Congress of China gives priority to developing relations with Turkey’s Grand National Assembly and is ready to join hands with the latter to make new contributions to the further growth of the friendly relations. Speaker Arinc said， Turkey follows with great interest China’s achievements in economic and social development. After Turkey’s general election in November 2002， both the GNA and the Prime Minister expressed the need to further develop relations with China， for which they pledged to make unremitting efforts. The Speaker pointed out， the Turkey-China Friendship Group under Turkey’s GNA is willing to carry out further exchanges with the China-Turkey Friendship Group under China’s NPC.

At his meetings with important Turkish political figures， Vice Chairman Ismail Amat exposed the true nature of “East Turkistan” terrorist organizations and expounded on the policy of the Chinese Government towards ethnic groups and its principled stand on anti-terrorism. The Vice Chairman pointed out， “East Turkistan” organizations are terrorist organizations pure and simple. Some of their members have been trained in the Taliban training camps in Afghanistan and launched several appalling terrorist attacks in China， committing heinous crimes. Under the present international environment of anti-terrorism， the “East Turkistan” organizations have changed their tactics and continued their terrorist activities in the disguise of so-called “democracy”， “human rights” or under the signboards of “nationality” and “religion”. China is a big family composed of 56 ethnic groups. The people of all ethnic groups including Uygur compatriots live harmoniously and contribute their share to the construction of the country. China opposes terrorism in all forms and will never allow “East Turkistan” separatists to split China.

Important Egyptian political figures highly praised the traditional friendship between Egypt and China. They said that Egypt would firmly pursue the one-China policy and support China’s great cause of reunification. They hoped that the two countries would make greater progress in their cooperation in agriculture， science and technology， tourism and other fields.

Egypt attached great importance to the visit of Vice Chairman Ismail Amat. The Egyptian Prime Minister， Deputy Prime Minister and the Speaker of the People’s Assembly met with the delegation respectively. During his meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid， the Vice Chairman said: “China and Egypt， both ancient civilizations， have long histories and splendid cultures and have made tremendous contributions to civilization and progress of humanity in the process of human development. There exists lasting and profound friendship between the people of China and Egypt. The friendly contact between our two peoples started as early as more than 2，000 years ago. Our two peoples supported and sympathized with each other in their struggles for national independence and national liberation in modern times， which has furthered the friendship between them. What should be mentioned especially is that President Hosni Mubarak has visited China 8 times and forged profound friendship with the Chinese leaders. During his visit to China in 1999， the two countries signed a joint communiqué on the establishment of strategic and cooperative relations oriented toward the 21st century， setting the goal and framework for the development of bilateral relations in the new century. China and Egypt have set an example in cooperation and coordination in international affairs between them.” Ismail Amat pointed out: “The Chinese Government thanks the Egyptian Government and people for their support on the questions of human rights and Taiwan and highly appraises the efforts Egypt has made to achieve peace in the Middle East.” China will， as always， support the just cause of the Arab people and make due contributions to the early realization of peace in the Middle East. Prime Minister Obeid first of all extended his welcome to Vice Chairman Ismail Amat and his delegation. He said， China is a great country and the best friend of Egypt. Both Egypt and China belong to the developing countries and have played an active role in safeguarding peace in the region and the world at large. There exists profound friendship between the leaders of our two countries. Egypt admires China’s achievements scored in economy and science and technology since it adopted the policy of reform and opening up. President Mubarak has visited China 8 times and each time he saw changes in the country. China’s reform has been successful and Egypt is willing to learn from China’s experience of success. At his meeting with Speaker Sorour， the Vice Chairman said: “The relations between the National People’s Congress of China and the People’s Assembly of Egypt are very good. The Speaker has visited China three times in addition to attending the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference held in Beijing in 1995 and 1996 respectively. These visits have played an important role in deepening understanding and enhancing cooperation between Egypt’s People’s Assembly and China’s National People’s Congress. ” Speaker Sorour said， he could feel their warmness whenever meeting with Chinese friends. This is not only because that Egypt and China are both ancient civilizations， but also because that the two countries are close partners of friendly cooperation. Egypt thanks China for its principled position on the issue of the Middle East and hopes that the two countries will increase consultation on this issue.

The friendship organizations of Turkey and Egypt both expressed their willingness to carry out closer cooperation with their Chinese counterparts so as to make fresh contributions to the promotion of people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

The delegation held a working conference with the TCFA with its president Kemal Baytas at the head during its visit in Turkey. Vice Chairman Ismail Amat said: “During our visit we witnessed the unremitting efforts made by the TCFA to advance the people-to-people friendly and cooperative relations between Turkey and China， for which TCFA President Baytas has been conferred the honorable title of Friendship Ambassador by the CPAFFC. We believe that under the leadership of President Baytas and through close cooperation with the CPAFFC and the China-Turkey Friendship Association， the TCFA will make greater contribution to promoting people-to-people friendship between China and Turkey.” President Baytas pointed out， since its founding， the TCFA has carried out a series of exchanges and cooperation with the CPAFFC and the CTFA. The two sides organized governmental， cultural， arts and sports delegations to visit each other’s countries. He himself led an art troupe consisting of 30-odd people to China on a performance tour. The CPAFFC also sent art troupes to visit Turkey. These activities， reported by the media in Turkey， were made known to the Turkish people and contributed positively to enhancing friendship between the Turkish and Chinese people. At present， the Turkish people show greater interest in and feel closer to China than they did 20 or 30 years ago. We are looking forward to visits to Turkey by more Chinese delegations， especially delegations of the art， cultural and press circles， who will bring China closer to the Turkish people and take back to China their impressions on Turkey. The TCFA also hopes to strengthen cooperation in the economic and trade fields with the Chinese side to serve as a bridge for the economic and trade circles of our two countries.

At the meeting with Youssef Amin Wali， deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture and land reclamation and president of the Egypt-China Friendship Association， Vice Chairman Ismail Amat said: “While enjoying smooth development of official ties， China and Egypt have seen strengthened nongovernmental exchanges and cooperation. The CPAFFC has established friendly and cooperative relations with several Egyptian nongovernmental organizations including the ECFA and the Egyptian Committee for Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity. The regular exchanges of visits between them have contributed positively to the deepening of mutual understanding and friendship. The CPAFFC has also conferred the honorable title of Friendship Ambassador upon our Egyptian friend and well-known painter Mr. Heba Enayat who is the first Arab to receive such an honour. We hope that more people like Mr. Heba Enayat who dedicates himself to Sino-Egyptian friendship will appear in China and Egypt to push for the further development of people-to-people friendly exchanges and cooperation.” Deputy Prime Minister Wali said， the fact that Vice Chairman Ismail Amat takes up the presidency of the China-Egypt Friendship Association is conducive to developing Egypt-China friendly relations. The friendship between Egypt and China dates back to ancient times. The Muslims in Egypt all know these words of Prophet Mohammed: “To seek knowledge， one is not afraid to go as far as China”. There has been smooth development of bilateral relations in modern times. President Mubarak has paid 8 visits to China and forged profound friendship with the late Chairman Mao Zedong， the late Premier Zhou Enlai， and the former President Jiang Zemin. The exchanges and cooperation between the people of our two countries are important component parts of bilateral relations. The Deputy Prime Minister expressed the hope that the friendship organizations of the two countries would exert concerted efforts to make more contributions to the people-to-people friendship between the two countries.