President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who visited China six times, was remembered in Beijing on Wednesday as "strong and vibrant" and a "good friend" of the Chinese people.

China pledged to continue deepening the China-Venezuela relationship, which both countries treasure.

President Hu Jintao greets his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, in Beijing, in this Sept 24, 2008 file photo. [Wu Zhiyi / China Daily]

"President Chavez was an outstanding leader of Venezuela and a good friend of the Chinese people. He has made significant contributions to advancing the friendly and cooperative relations between China and Venezuela," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday at a news conference.

President Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, China's top political leader, each sent messages of condolence to Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's acting president, Hua said.

Both Hu and Xi met Chavez several times over the years when there were frequent high-level meetings between the two countries.

Chavez's six visits to China since 1999 achieved fruitful cooperation agreements between the two countries' governments and enterprises.

The Communist Party of China, the Chinese government and its people highly treasure the time-honored friendship between the two countries, Hua said. China is ready to work with Venezuela to continuously deepen the strategic partnership based on common development so as to bring benefits to their people, she said.

'Strong and vibrant'

In the eyes of many Chinese people, Chavez was a "strong and vibrant" leader from Latin America.

Liu Jianwei, a former employee of the China National Construction & Agricultural Machinery Import & Export Corp, met Chavez twice between 1999 and 2001 when he was a representative of the company in Venezuela.

The company was selling agricultural machinery to Venezuela as part of a $30 million loan project between the two countries, he recalled.