On September 14, 2021 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with reporters in Singapore with the new Foreign Minister Wei Wen.
A reporter asked whether China and the United States are engaged in a regional diplomatic competition, and how Southeast Asian countries avoid choosing sides between China and the United States.
Weiwen said that the United States is the most developed country in the world and an important partner in the region with important influence.
But the most successful story in the region over the past 40 years has been the rise of China.
Singapore, as a close friend of China, hopes that China and the United States can constructively handle competition, manage tensions, cooperate to respond to global challenges such as the epidemic and climate change, and work with regional countries to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
Wang Yi said that China's development has a strong endogenous driving force and is an inevitable trend in history. The historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is irreversible and will be completed. This is also an important achievement in the overall development and progress of mankind.
How to treat China's development is an important issue for all countries in the world.
When I met with Premier Lee Hsien Loong just now, I praised Singapore’s ability to view China’s development in a rational, fair and objective manner, and to find cooperation opportunities from China’s development, to achieve mutual achievement and common development, and to bring tangibility to both countries and their peoples. Interests.
Wang Yi pointed out that there are also some countries and forces in the world that are very unsuitable for China's development, have various misgivings, and even produce serious misjudgments.
This is not conducive to promoting cooperation, but also affecting the development of normal relations.
The United States may be in such a process.
The United States should realize that not only the United States has the right to development in the world, but other countries also have the right to development; not only the American people have the right to live a happy life, but the people of other countries also have the right to live a happy life.
More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese said, "All things are cultivated without harming each other, and the roads go together without contradiction." The world should be rich and colorful. Everyone's development is true development and sustainable development.
It is not possible to allow only one or a few countries to develop while other countries are in poverty.
This is neither fair nor in line with the basic conscience of mankind.
Wang Yi said that it is hoped that the United States can view today's China objectively and rationally, like many countries including Singapore, and seek and expand mutually beneficial cooperation with China.
As the world's top two economies, China and the United States have benefited from cooperation between China and the United States.
In particular, the US must abandon its zero-sum game thinking. The world is advancing and will not go back to the Cold War era.
We must be able to keep pace with the times, learn to coexist peacefully and cooperate with other civilizations and nations for a win-win situation, and jointly build a peaceful, harmonious, stable, and prosperous world.