President Xi Jinping says Mainland China attaches great importance to bilateral relations with East Timor, the Government-run news agency Xinhua reports.

The news agency says Mr Xi made the remarks to East Timor’s President Francisco Guterres in a message of congratulations to mark the 15th anniversary of the Southeast Asian nation’s independence and the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Mr Xi said the Mainland and East Timor established a comprehensive partnership in 2014, a model of win-win cooperation between a big country and a small nation.

Mr Guterres, known as Lú-Olo, was quoted as saying he was ready to take the bilateral relationship to a new stage.

At Mr Guterres’ inauguration last week, the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, Zhang Ping, attended as Mr Xi’s special envoy.