China and Britain should prevent damage to bilateral relations by addressing disputes appropriately while demonstrating mutual respect, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

Jiang's comments came in response to questions during a routine January 5 press conference about the frictions caused by China's recent execution of Akmal Shaikh, a British national convicted of smuggling drugs.

"China lends importance to its ties with Britain," Jiang said. "It serves the two countries' interests to maintain the steady development of bilateral relations."

Some British politicians and media outlets criticized China for sentencing Shaikh to death, thereby disrupting Sino-British ties.

Shaikh, 53, was discovered with 4,030 grams of heroin upon his arrival at the Urumqi International Airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after arriving from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on September 12, 2007.

China's Criminal Law stipulates that the trafficking of more than 50 grams of heroin is punishable by death.

"The Chinese judiciary's right to treat cases according to the rule of law should be respected," Jiang said, "and nobody should have right to make improper comments on China's judicial sovereignty."

Sino-Nepalese Partnership Upgraded

China and its southwestern neighbor Nepal have agreed to elevate their relationship to a "comprehensive partnership of cooperation" from a "good neighborly partnership"--a move that signals closer ties between the two countries.

China and Nepal have become "good neighbors, friends and partners" since establishing diplomatic relations in 1955, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said during a meeting with visiting Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in Beijing on December 29, 2009.

Under the new circumstances today, he added, both nations should deepen their traditional partnership and cooperate with each other in a more diverse way.

The Nepalese prime minister paid his first official state visit to China since taking office in May 2009 between December 26-31. During his trip, he toured several Chinese cities--including Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

In a joint statement issued during his visit, China offered tariff reductions, the training of agricultural experts and other forms of assistance to the Himalayan nation.

The two sides pledged to promote bilateral trade and investment, as well as cooperation--mainly in the fields of information technology, transportation, agriculture, infrastructure construction and poverty relief. The Chinese and Nepalese leaders also expressed mutual satisfaction with the implementation of Chinese assistance projects in Nepal.

Nepal welcomes Chinese companies' participation in its hydropower projects and infrastructure development, the joint statement added. The Nepalese Government is also willing to establish special economic zones to attract Chinese investment, it added.

Moreover, both sides called for building more border trading points between China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Nepal.