Chinese leader meets Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday October 19, 2006

Beijing- Religion has an important role to play in China's new policy of "building a harmonious society", a senior Chinese official told Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury Thursday. "China has engaged itself in building a harmonious society, during which religion can play an important role," state media quoted Jia Qingling, who is ranked fourth in the official hierarchy of China's ruling Communist Party, as telling Archbishop Rowan Williams.

Jia said the party had carried out its policy of religious freedom "soundly since China adopted the reform and opening-up policy in 1978," the official Xinhua news agency said.

He said successive archbishops of Canterbury had "played a positive role in promoting friendship" between British and Chinese people. the rest