China established its diplomatic tie with the Republic of South Sudan Saturday and vowed to provide assistance at the best of its ability to develop the world's newest nation.

Jiang Weixin, a special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao, signed the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations with Foreign Minister of South Sudan Deng Alor Kol in Juba, capital of the new nation.

Jiang is also the minister of housing and urban-rural construction.

South Sudan is newly founded and lots of work needs to be done. China would strengthen its political contact with South Sudan, provide assistance at the best of its ability, and expand pragmatic cooperation in an all-round way, Jiang said at the opening ceremony of Chinese embassy.

"The establishment of diplomatic ties and the official operation of the embassy have brought the relations between the two countries to a new stage," he said.

"We also hope that South Sudan will set up an embassy in Beijing as soon as possible to promote communication," he said.

During a speech at a ceremony to celebrate the independence of South Sudan, Jiang said the birth of South Sudan is the achievement of peaceful process that ended the longest civil war in Africa and successful referendum where southern people choose independence.

"There are still on-going negotiations on some unsettled issues between South Sudan and Sudan. We believe that the two sides would put peace first and solve the issues through negotiations and consultations based on mutual understanding," he said.

"We sincerely hope South Sudan and Sudan would be good neighbors, partners and brothers forever," he said.

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