On August 25, 2003, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing held talks with his Netherlands counterpart Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who was on an official visit to China. The two sides exchanged views on how to strengthen bilateral relations and international issues of common concern.
　　
Li said that currently China and the Netherlands are maintaining a favorable development trend in bilateral relations, with their mutual understanding and trust increasing due to frequent high-level visits. Li said that, as the Netherlands is an influential European Union member state, the Chinese government values developing relations with it, and is willing to further promote long-term stable development in China-Netherlands and China-EU relations.

Scheffer said that the bilateral ties between the Netherlands and China in the fields of politics and economy are progressing smoothly. China is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and, as such, is playing an important role in international affairs. Scheffer noted that the Netherlands is willing to make joint efforts with the Chinese side to strengthen friendly cooperative relations in various fields with China.