Vice-President Xi Jinping has called for closer co-operation between China and Turkey on resolving Middle East issues, despite their opposing views on the crisis in Syria.
Xi landed in Ankara, the Turkish capital, on Monday on the final stop of a trip that also took him to the United States and Ireland.
'In today's complex and changing international situation, the enrichment of the strategic co-operation between China and Turkey is to the benefit of both countries, now and in the long term,' Xi told Turkey's Sabah newspaper.
'A member of the Group of 20 with a growing economy and an important country in the Middle East, Turkey has for a long time tried to bring stability and development to the region and played an active role in trying to solve 'hot' issues,' Xi said, citing Afghanistan and the Iranian nuclear dispute among others.
Turkey has sought to mediate between Western nations and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme. Ankara has also led support for UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions putting pressure on Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to step down. China and Russia vetoed the resolution in the Security Council and voted against it, along with a small minority of other countries, in the General Assembly.
The Chinese and Russian Security Council vetoes effectively obstructed the international effort to put pressure on Assad, but Xi said China and Turkey had maintained good co-ordination and co-operation in Asian, G20 and UN frameworks.
Xi also met Turkish President Abdullah Gul and the speaker of Turkey's Parliament, Cemil Cicek, yesterday. He will attend a business forum in Istanbul today, where he is likely to be confronted by Turkish businessmen eager to bridge a yawning trade gap.