State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accepts an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 16-On September 16, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accepted an exclusive interview with reporters from Xinhua News Agency when he concluded his attendance at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and visited Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia.
The content is as follows:
1. Reporter: With the current global epidemic situation still severe, what is the significance of going to Russia to attend the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization?
What issues were discussed at the meeting and what was the most important result achieved?
Wang Yi: This Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is the first physical multilateral meeting held since the global pandemic of the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year. It is also an important attempt by all parties to restart offline exchanges and face-to-face discussions on cooperation under the background of normalization of epidemic prevention and control. .
The foreign ministers of the eight member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the heads of two permanent establishments gathered together to discuss the organization's development and regional cooperation plans.
The meeting passed a press communiqué and approved more than 20 draft documents, demonstrating the "Shanghai spirit" of mutual trust and mutual benefit and demonstrating the constructive role of the SCO in promoting regional peace and stability.
The core task of this foreign ministers' meeting is to make political preparations for the SCO video summit to be held in November.
The foreign ministers look forward to taking the summit as an opportunity to more effectively respond to global challenges, resolve security risks, and share development opportunities. As the SCO is about to enter its third decade, it will become a model of multilateralism and new international relations.
The foreign ministers reached a series of important consensus and results on this.
One is to confirm that the heads of member states are invited to issue a statement on the 75th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.
The member states of the SCO paid huge national sacrifices for the victory of World War II. They all agreed that they should resolutely defend the results of World War II, oppose tampering with the history of World War II, and resolutely maintain world peace and stability.
The second is to build a consensus on building a community with a shared future for mankind.
The century-long changes have demonstrated the necessity and urgency of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
The foreign ministers reiterated that this initiative has practical significance, is in line with the development direction of human civilization, and confirmed its important position in the SCO cooperation philosophy.
The third is to promote international anti-epidemic cooperation.
The foreign ministers believe that it is necessary to carry forward the "Shanghai Spirit", take solidarity and cooperation as the most powerful weapon to defeat the epidemic, and work together to coordinate epidemic prevention and control and resume work and production, so as to create favorable conditions for economic and social development in the post-epidemic period.
The fourth is to expand all-round cooperation.
The foreign ministers emphasized that we must continue to strengthen security cooperation, work together to combat the "three forces", and jointly create a good security environment.
All parties generally believe that cooperation in the fields of economic and trade investment, interconnection, digital economy, and humanities should be deepened, and high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" should be emphasized.
The fifth is to advocate and support multilateralism.
The foreign ministers advocated that the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations should be used as an opportunity to consolidate the central coordinating role of the United Nations and its Security Council in maintaining international peace and security, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, and further improve the global governance system.
The "Global Data Security Initiative" proposed by China is consistent with the ideas of all parties and has been actively echoed.
The foreign ministers decided to ask the summit to issue a statement on safeguarding international information security, expressing the clear position of member states to jointly safeguard international information and data security.
2. Reporter: What results have been achieved during this visit to Russia?
How does the current changes in the international situation, especially the changes in Sino-US relations affect Sino-Russian relations?
What role will China and Russia play in a century of change?
Wang Yi: This is the first face-to-face meeting between Chinese and Russian foreign ministers after the global outbreak.
Foreign Minister Lavrov and I have held long talks and exchanges, and reached a series of important consensus on strengthening bilateral relations and coping with international and regional challenges.
We also issued an extensive joint statement by the foreign ministers of the two countries, explaining their common position on almost all international issues. China and Russia have become important stabilizing forces in the current international situation.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has accelerated the evolution of the world over a century.
Both China and Russia are thinking deeply about how to maintain, consolidate, and develop Sino-Russian relations under the new situation. This is not only related to the development and rejuvenation of the two countries and the well-being of the people, but also has global demonstration significance.
The Chinese and Russian foreign ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in four areas.
The first is to support international anti-epidemic cooperation.
Support the World Health Organization to play a coordinating role, support countries in accelerating drug and vaccine research and development, call for an end to the politicization of the epidemic, and oppose allowing the new crown virus to be left alone and the spread of "political virus".
The second is to become a model of harmonious coexistence among big countries.
Maintaining a constructive and cooperative relationship between major powers is indispensable for solving global problems. The Cold War mentality and zero-sum game go against the trend of the times of peace, development, and cooperation, and cannot be supported or sustainable.
China and Russia will take the implementation of the consensus of the two heads of state as the core task, continue to deepen political mutual trust and strategic cooperation, and continue to deepen the cooperation in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and the Eurasian Economic Union.
The third is to strengthen cutting-edge technological innovation.
China and Russia have complementary advantages in science and technology.
The two sides will implement well over 1,000 cooperative projects in scientific and technological innovation years, deepen cooperation in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, promote two-way exchanges of talents, encourage venture capital investment in high-tech, Internet and other fields, and provide scientific and technological support for practical cooperation between the two countries.
The fourth is to defend international fairness and justice.
China and Russia will firmly maintain the core position of the United Nations in international affairs, uphold international law and basic norms of international relations, and actively reform and improve the global governance system.
At present, the international community is experiencing historical tests of multilateral and unilateral, cooperation and confrontation.
Individual countries have rampant unilateral bullying, wantonly interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, impose containment and suppression on China and Russia, and undermine the security and stability of the surrounding areas of the two countries.
China and Russia are united like a mountain, and their friendship is unbreakable. The strategic cooperation between the two countries will not change due to external environmental influences.
In a period of world turbulence and change, a strong Sino-Russian relationship has more prominent significance in maintaining regional and world peace and security.
China and Russia will unswervingly develop future-oriented relations and work with the international community to promote the construction of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, build a community with a shared future for mankind, and make greater contributions to the cause of human peace and development.
Reporter: What new measures have you negotiated on anti-epidemic cooperation during your visit to four countries?
How to promote the construction of a health community with neighboring countries?
Wang Yi: Since the outbreak of the epidemic, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and other neighboring countries have worked together and helped each other to carry out effective anti-epidemic cooperation.
Mongolian President Battulga visited China in February this year at a critical moment in China's fight against the epidemic to express support.
President Xi Jinping maintained telephone communication with Russian President Putin, Kazakhstan President Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Reenbekov and others, and made plans and arrangements for jointly fighting the epidemic.
China and the four countries provide mutual aid to fight the epidemic.
China dispatches medical expert groups and joint working groups to the four countries, or shares prevention and control and diagnosis and treatment experience through video conferences.
During this visit, colleagues from various countries expressed their gratitude to China for its timely and powerful support and assistance, believing that this vividly interprets the friendship between neighbors that "sees the truth in adversity".
Some friends from Central Asia also told me that after they contracted COVID-19, they took Chinese medicine, which played an important role in restoring health.
During this visit, I exchanged views with foreign ministers of various countries on deepening anti-epidemic cooperation and finally defeating the virus, and committed to building a "anti-epidemic fortress", a "healthy silk road" and a health community.
To this end, we will take four measures.
The first is to strengthen international anti-epidemic cooperation, firmly support the World Health Organization's coordinating role in global anti-epidemic cooperation, and oppose the politicization and labelling of the epidemic.
The second is to consolidate and expand the results of the epidemic.
China is willing to continue to provide assistance to all countries in the fight against the epidemic, including material procurement, expert training, experience sharing and drug cooperation, and accelerate the establishment of a major epidemic disease information notification mechanism with all parties.
The third is to actively carry out vaccine research and development, production and procurement cooperation.
China will make its contribution to the realization of the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in neighboring countries.
The fourth is to work together to develop Chinese medicine cooperation.
China is willing to promote the use of traditional Chinese medicine according to the needs of various countries and jointly protect the health of the people.
Reporter: This visit has achieved face-to-face exchanges with neighboring countries. How do you view the exchanges and cooperation between countries in the "post-epidemic period"?
During this visit, did China discuss the construction of the “Belt and Road” and the resumption of production and production with other parties?
Wang Yi: In the context of the prolonged epidemic and the normalization of prevention and control, China attaches great importance to the safe and orderly resumption of foreign exchanges.
President Xi Jinping has been conducting telephone, video, and letter exchanges with leaders of various countries. The day before yesterday, he held a video meeting with EU leaders. He will also be invited to attend high-level meetings on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations by video.
My colleagues and I have visited Europe and neighboring countries one after another, and we will also design and arrange the next exchange activities according to new tasks and needs.
As the epidemic situation changes, we will continue to adopt the method of combining online and offline, cloud diplomacy and physical visits to promote normal exchanges and cooperation with all parties, and strive to achieve the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, and the density of bilateral and multilateral exchanges The enthusiasm will not drop, and the breadth and depth of cooperation will not decrease.
During this visit, China and all parties summarized the new characteristics and good experience of cooperation in various fields since the epidemic, and agreed to continue to play the role of co-construction of the "Belt and Road" and the cooperation of national development strategies, accelerate the resumption of work and production, and better benefit the region The people of the country.
The first is to do a good job in top-level design and form a new roadmap for cooperation in various fields.
The second is to improve the cooperation system and mechanism and build a new platform for the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, including the improvement of joint epidemic prevention and control at border ports, and provide comprehensive support for financing and epidemic prevention for the “Belt and Road”.
The third is to build a new engine of cooperation in the “Belt and Road” initiative based on mutual benefit and complementary needs.
China is willing to increase imports of high-quality agricultural products from various countries, and welcomes all countries to participate in the third import expo to share China’s opportunities to expand its market.
China supports the development of the digital economy of all countries and is willing to expand cooperation in the fields of 5G, big data, artificial intelligence, digital economy, e-commerce, and information technology to jointly build the "Digital Silk Road".
The fourth is to promote connectivity and personnel exchanges, and open up new channels for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
China and Kazakhstan announced their support for the China-Europe Express to play a greater role and turn it into a "steel camel team" galloping across Eurasia.
China Kyrgyzstan announced that the port will resume its cargo function.
So far, nearly 2,000 Chinese experts have been invited to return to Central Asia to participate in the resumption of work and production. This time, China and Kazakhstan have announced the launch of the "China-Kazakhstan resumption of work and production of the first batch of 1,000 experts plan."
China is also willing to resume flights with Central Asian countries and increase direct flights in due course in accordance with the progress of epidemic prevention and control, so as to provide more convenient conditions for exchanges between the two sides.
During the most severe period of the epidemic, the air routes between China and Russia were always unblocked, and border cargo was never interrupted.
As the epidemic situation slows down, the resumption rate of cooperation projects between the two sides has reached about 90%. This time the two sides are actively discussing facilitation arrangements for the cross-border movement of people and goods.
China and Mongolia will speed up the establishment of a "fast channel" that facilitates the movement of necessary personnel on the basis of the smooth operation of the "green channel" of logistics.
The Chinese side also introduced to all parties that China has entered a new stage of development and will comprehensively increase the level of opening up to the outside world and promote the formation of a new development pattern in which the domestic and international double cycles are the mainstay and the domestic and international double cycles are mutually promoted.
All parties believe that this will provide countries around the world with broader market space and opportunities for cooperation.
As China's friendly neighbors and strategic partners, all parties will be the first to benefit from China's process of building a new development pattern.
We are willing to make further joint efforts to press the "accelerator" for the development of relations between China and other countries, so that the cooperation between the two sides can be "accelerated".
V. Reporter: The United States seeks to create an "Indo-Pacific" version of NATO and promotes the "Indo-Pacific strategy" to "expand its personnel" to the north. How do you evaluate the security situation around China?
Do you discuss measures to maintain stability in the surrounding areas with the visiting four countries?
Wang Yi: Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia are important neighbors in Northwest China. China pays close attention to the situation in this region and sincerely hopes that all countries will maintain long-term stability, development and prosperity.
In recent years, the overall momentum of China's relations with and between neighboring countries has been good.
At the same time, world turmoil has intensified, and regional security is facing new threats and challenges.
International terrorist organizations and regional "three forces" have become active again.
Certain extraterritorial forces used various excuses to intervene in the internal affairs of countries in the region, and even instigated a new round of "color revolution."
At the same time, out of the need to maintain unipolar hegemony, they fabricated all kinds of lies to maliciously discredit China and Russia and other emerging economies, unreasonably implement containment and suppression, and even coerce other countries to choose sides in an attempt to create the so-called "new cold war."
This kind of behavior breaks through the bottom line of state-to-state exchanges and is not in the common interests of all countries. The international community will not accept it and will certainly leave a disgraceful record in history.
During this visit, all countries agreed that security and strategic cooperation are the embodiment of high-level mutual trust between China and other countries and an important part of all-round cooperation. All parties positively evaluated the results of bilateral strategic security, defense exchanges, and law enforcement and security cooperation.
Facing the new situation, China will strengthen cooperation in three areas with other countries.
One is to actively practice a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept.
Deepen security cooperation in traditional and non-traditional security fields, and jointly respond to risks and challenges.
China and other countries are not only a community of interdependent interests, but also a security community that is in the same boat. They are willing to make greater efforts to maintain world peace and stability and build a community with a shared future for mankind.
The second is to continuously improve the level of security cooperation at the bilateral and multilateral levels, and work together to combat the "three forces", drug smuggling and transnational organized crime.
All parties welcome the "Global Data Security Initiative" proposed by China a few days ago, and believe that this initiative is of positive significance for promoting the formulation of global data security rules and building an open, cooperative, and secure global data space.
China will work with other countries and other countries that are willing to advance this process.
The third is to firmly support each other in following a development path that suits their own national conditions and that the people choose independently, and oppose any person or force to interfere in other countries' internal affairs under any pretext.
China is willing to strengthen exchanges of experience in state governance and administration with other countries and safeguard each other's political and political security.
Friendly neighbors such as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are about to usher in an important political agenda, and China wishes them every success.
6. Reporter: The first internal Afghan negotiations were launched in Qatar a few days ago. Both the Afghan government and the Taliban sent representatives to participate.
How does China view the prospects of Afghan internal negotiations?
What are your expectations for the future of Afghanistan?
Wang Yi: The four countries visited this time are all close neighbors of Afghanistan and they are all concerned about the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
As a sincere friend of Afghanistan, China sincerely hopes that all parties to the peace talks in Afghanistan will put national justice and national interests first, and find an effective political solution to the Afghan issue as soon as possible.
The Chinese side attended the opening ceremony of the first Afghan internal negotiations by video. We emphasized that we should adhere to the fundamental direction of political settlement, adhere to the basic principles of Afghan leadership, and adhere to the framework goal of broad tolerance.
At the same time, it is hoped that the new Afghan regime structure will unswervingly combat terrorism, pursue a peaceful and friendly foreign policy, and push Afghanistan towards a path of peace, stability and development.
It is not only the greatest desire of the 37 million Afghan people, but also the interests of regional countries and the international community to end the war in Afghanistan at an early date and usher in peace again.
China will continue to be a supporter, mediator and facilitator of the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan as always.
We call on the international community and regional countries to uphold justice and morality, jointly support the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan, and to withdraw foreign military forces in an orderly and responsible manner to ensure a smooth transition of the situation in Afghanistan.