On the afternoon of July 28, 2024, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council met with President of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Li Qiang said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 22 years ago, no matter how the international landscape has evolved, China and Timor-Leste have always understood and supported each other, deepened political mutual trust and achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation. President Xi Jinping will hold a meeting with President José Ramos-Horta to make a new strategic plan for the development of bilateral relations. China is ready to work with Timor-Leste to further carry forward their traditional friendship, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and constantly achieve more results to better benefit the two peoples.

Noting that China will, as always, firmly support Timor-Leste in pursuing a development path suited to its own national conditions and safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and development interests, Li Qiang said the two sides should further synergize their development strategies, constantly deepen practical cooperation and inject more impetus into their respective modernization drives. China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Timor-Leste in infrastructure, connectivity, and others within the framework of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, expand mutually beneficial cooperation in a wider range of fields such as agriculture, fisheries, water conservancy, poverty reduction, and tourism, and at the sub-national level, and help Timor-Leste improve its independent development capabilities. China is ready to import more quality products from Timor-Leste and encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Timor-Leste. China is ready to deepen communication and coordination with Timor-Leste in multilateral areas, strengthen exchanges and cooperation on climate policy, support Timor-Leste's early accession to ASEAN, and jointly make positive contributions to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.

Noting that China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta thanked China for its long-term and firm support for Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste highly appreciates China's important role in international and regional affairs and thanks China for supporting its accession to ASEAN and the WTO. Timor-Leste firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and supports and actively participates in Belt and Road cooperation, an extraordinary vision. Chinese enterprises are welcome to invest in Timor-Leste. He expressed the hope to deepen cooperation with China in various fields, such as infrastructure development, water conservancy, agriculture, food security, and health care, and further upgrade the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Wu Zhenglong attended the meeting.