On December 25, 2007, Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a congratulatory message to Islam Karimov for his re-election as Uzbekistan's president and extended sincere congratulations and good wishes to him.

In the message, Hu said China and Uzbekistan are friendly neighboring countries and the two peoples have traditionally enjoyed friendship. Hu said since the two nations forged diplomatic relations 15 years ago, with common efforts the two countries have established a friendly partnership on the basis of mutual respect, mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit. "We are pleased to see that in recent years, Uzbekistan has enjoyed a stable political situation and constant economic development. The living standards of the people have obviously been improved and the country's international influence has continuously expanded," said Hu. "I believe that under your leadership, Uzbekistan's people will score greater achievements in the cause of constructing their own country," Hu told Karimov. The Chinese president added that China has always respected Uzbek's own choice of its development path and supports Uzbekistan's efforts to safeguard national independence, sovereignty and security and to promote economic development. "I am willing to work together with you to strengthen bilateral friendship and mutual trust and to deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields to promote the friendly China-Uzbekistan partnership to a higher level," Hu said.