Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman attend a press conference after their talks in Prague, the Czech Republic, March 29, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

PRAGUE - China and the Czech Republic on Tuesday forged strategic partnership, ushering bilateral ties into a new era of seeking more common interests and deeper cooperation.

The upgrade of bilateral relations came as a result of the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman in Prague during Xi's visit to the European country.

NEW DEFINITION OF TIES

During their talks, both presidents spoke highly of the current bilateral relations and reached broad consensus after in-depth discussion on bilateral ties, the relations between China and the European Union (EU) as well as the cooperation between China and the countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The two countries issued a joint statement on lifting their ties to a strategic partnership after the talks, in which the two sides agreed to continue making close high-level contacts as the exemplary for over-all relations, enhancing friendly cooperation between ministries, legislative bodies and local governments.

The two sides decided to firmly support each other's core interests and major concerns in order to ensure the long-term, healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

The new definition of the bilateral ties has pointed out "a clear political direction" for future development, said Xi when jointly meeting the press with Zeman after the talks.

The establishment of the strategic partnership reflects the positive momentum of development of China-Czech ties, said Cui Hongjian, a senior research fellow on European studies at the China Institute of International Studies.

"The upgrade is not only significant to both countries, but also conducive to the China-CEE cooperation and China-EU relations," he said.

The two presidents also enjoyed close personal relationship. Recalling their five meetings in the past two years, Xi said he and Zeman have become "good friends, old friends".

"A good personal rapport between leaders can have good impact on state-to-state ties," said Cui, adding that the good interaction between Xi and Zeman, to some extent, helped to make Xi choose the Czech Republic as the first CEE country to visit.