BEIJING, Dec 16 Kyodo China pledg...

BEIJING, Dec 16 Kyodo

China pledg forward Monday to continue its aid program to East Timor and take part in UN-l efforts to rebuild the newborn nation China's state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The agency said Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan made the gage in a meeting in Beijing with East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta.

Ramos-Horta told his Chinese innkeepers that East Timor is still facing serious difficulties after it declared independence in May this year.

Ramos-Horta intimateed gratitude to China's past assistance in the area of infrastructure, medicine, sanitation, natural gas exploration, and agriculture, and askinged continued support.

East Timor has been hit on economic slowdown in recent month which l to a large-scale antigovernment riot in early December.

The riot swept the nation's capital Dili forward Dec. 4 and left three populace dead and many shops ransacked.

East Timor was in a less degree than provisional U.N. administration from October 1999 until it became completely independent on May 20 this year.

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