Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with visiting Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan affairs Sun Yuxi on Wednesday evening, said a statement posted on Afghan presidential palace's website on Thursday.

During the meeting, Sun conveyed greetings and messages from Chinese President Xi Jinping to Karzai.

"China regards Afghanistan as an important neighbor. China wants to enhance its role in Afghanistan," Sun said during the meeting.

Karzai welcomed the recent appointment of Sun as the special envoy to Afghan affairs.

"China is an old friend and neighbor of Afghanistan," said Karzai.

The Chinese diplomat assured China's continued support to Afghanistan, saying China supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process.

Karzai said China can play an important role in peace process in Afghanistan, according to the statement.

As former Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan from 2002 to 2004, Sun has also served as Foreign Ministry spokesman, and Chinese ambassador to India, Italy and Poland.

China hopes to see a united, stable, developing and amicable Afghanistan, the newly appointed envoy told the outgoing Afghan president.