BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta here on Sunday.

Li said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 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.

China is willing to work with Timor-Leste to further carry forward their traditional friendship, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve more results to better benefit the two peoples, Li added.

Noting that China will, as always, firmly support Timor-Leste in pursuing a development path suited to its own national conditions and in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and development interests, Li said the two sides should further synergize their development strategies, deepen practical cooperation and inject more impetus into their respective modernization drives.

He said China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Timor-Leste in infrastructure and connectivity under the framework of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, expand mutually beneficial cooperation to a wider range of fields, and help Timor-Leste improve its independent development capabilities.

China is willing to import more quality products from Timor-Leste and encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Timor-Leste, Li said, adding that 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 contribute to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.

Noting that China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Timor-Leste, Ramos-Horta thanked China for its long-term support for Timor-Leste.

He said Timor-Leste highly appreciates China's important role in international and regional affairs, firmly adheres to the one-China principle, supports and actively participates in the Belt and Road Initiative, welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Timor-Leste, and hopes to deepen cooperation with China in various fields.