Q: It is learned that Foreign Ministry dispatched an assistant minister to attend the inaugural ceremony of Afghan president in the capacity of the Chinese Government's special envoy. Can you brief us on that?

A: On December 7th,  Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui attended the inauguration of Afghan President Karzai in Kabul. He arrived in Kabul two days in advance and respectively met with founding father and former King of Afghanistan Zahir Shah, Vice President of the Interim Government Karim Halili and Foreign Minister Abudullah Abudullah.

The Afghan side attaches importance to Special Envoy Li Hui's visit, saying that the fact that the Chinese Government sent a special envoy to Afghanistan for the presidential inauguration demonstrated once more China values Afghanistan's peace process and China-Afghanistan relations.

China supports the peace process and the post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan. We are pleased to see positive progress has been made in its reconstruction work and believe that with the joint efforts of the new government and the Afghan people, this country will eventually attain lasting peace and economic development.