On February 21, 2024, Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, accepted an interview with Chinese media after attending the 60th Munich Security Conference and visiting Spain and France.
1. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Munich Security Conference, which has attracted widespread attention from the international community. What is the main message conveyed by this meeting?
Wang Yi: The report of this year's Munich Security Conference is titled "Loss More", reflecting Europe's pessimism about the international situation and highlighting the severe challenges facing the world today. The deficit in global governance, the escalation of geopolitical hotspots, the rise of zero-sum games, and the urge to decouple and break links are all exacerbating the risk of “lose more”. The international community is generally concerned about China's claims and hopes to hear China's voice. The Munich Security Council held a special session on China for this purpose. The clear signal we sent is that China will firmly be a stabilizing force in a turbulent world. We should promote cooperation between major countries with mutual respect and mutual trust, respond to hot-spot issues through dialogue and consultation, strengthen global governance through solidarity and collaboration, and promote global growth through openness and mutual benefit. During the meeting, I had extensive contacts with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Canada, Argentina, Ukraine and other parties, stressing that we should adhere to openness and inclusiveness rather than being closed and exclusive; we should adhere to consultation and cooperation rather than engage in conflict and confrontation; we should adhere to multilateralism We should adhere to doctrine and not be self-centered; we should insist on pursuing win-win results and resolutely avoid losing too much.
The meeting between the foreign ministers of China and the United States during the Munich Security Council was candid, substantive and constructive. China emphasizes that the United States should view China's development objectively and rationally, pursue a positive and pragmatic policy towards China, and implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state at their meeting in San Francisco. Mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation between China and the United States are the inevitable requirements of historical evolution and the common expectation of the international community. The two sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication in various fields and exchanged views on resolving regional hot issues.
In our contacts with all parties, we emphasized that China's development is the growth of peaceful forces, the strengthening of stabilizing factors, and the expansion of cooperation opportunities. The overall modernization of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will be a huge progress in the process of human civilization and will also Provide huge opportunities for world development. China will always stand on the side of fairness, justice and historical correctness, adhere to justice on major issues, show responsibility at critical moments, and firmly be a defender of world peace, a promoter of global development, and a provider of public goods. President Xi Jinping proposed building a community with a shared future for mankind and advocated an equal and orderly world multipolarization and inclusive economic globalization. This is China's solution to a series of practical problems, major challenges and outstanding contradictions in today's world. China will lead the implementation of the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, use high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" as a platform, adhere to extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and work with other countries to achieve world modernization of peace and prosperity.
2. Currently, the crisis in Ukraine is prolonging and the conflict between Palestine and Israel continues to spill over, affecting the entire international community. What are China’s views and suggestions on the development of the situation?
Wang Yi: The Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are currently two major international hot spots and are causing negative spillovers around the world. During this trip, I had in-depth discussions with all parties on this issue. The most prominent feeling is that although the situation is still unclear and conflicts are still prominent, the consensus of all parties is increasing and their willingness to cooperate is rising. I introduced China's position and propositions to all parties, and stressed that we must adhere to the political solution approach, not give up our efforts to promote peace and talks, and actively seek fair and reasonable solutions to prevent more serious consequences.
Prolonging, complicating, and expanding the crisis in Ukraine are not in line with the common interests of the international community. Historical experience proves that the end point of any conflict is to return to the negotiating table. The ins and outs of this crisis and the rights and wrongs will be judged by history. The most urgent thing at the moment is to restore peace. We believe that a political solution is the only way out. As long as there is still a glimmer of hope for peace, efforts to promote peace should not be given up. If peace talks were started one day earlier, the losses would be reduced by one point. The "Four Shoulds" proposed by President Xi Jinping are China's fundamental principles for promoting a political solution to the Ukraine crisis. China will continue to play a constructive role in re-establishing peace and support the building of a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture.
Over the past 100 days, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has continued to escalate, killing nearly 30,000 civilians and displacing about 1.9 million people. If the war in Gaza is allowed to prolong, it will cause a more serious humanitarian disaster. Today in the 21st century, how can the international community remain indifferent and do nothing in the face of such a human tragedy? The root cause of the conflict is that Palestine has never been able to realize its dream of establishing a state, and generations of people have been displaced and unable to return to their homes. China's position is very clear. The first is to cease fire and end the war immediately. The second is to ensure humanitarian rescue. The third is to release all detained persons. The fourth is to convene an international peace conference and restart the "two-state solution" to ultimately realize the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel and the Arab world. and the Jewish people coexist harmoniously.
3. During this visit, you had intensive exchanges with political figures from many European countries. What are your feelings and expectations?
Wang Yi: Since last year, China and the EU have fully restarted face-to-face exchanges at all levels and fully activated dialogue and cooperation in all fields. China-EU relations have shown a good momentum of stability and improvement. After 20 years of comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU, the two sides have become two major forces promoting multipolarity, two major markets supporting globalization, and two major civilizations advocating diversity. As the world today enters a new period of turbulence and change, the strategic significance and global influence of China-EU relations have become more prominent. Looking into the future, we must regard partnership as the main tone of China-EU relations and cooperation as the main theme of China-EU relations. We must persist in seeking common ground while reserving differences, gathering common ground and resolving differences, and promote China-EU relations to make steady progress and achieve long-term stability.
I feel that Europe's rational understanding of China is increasing, and it believes that China's development is in line with the logic of history. Europe should not be afraid of this, let alone reject it. The European side has a positive attitude towards strengthening exchanges between China and the EU at all levels and is very enthusiastic about deepening practical cooperation. It hopes to achieve more concrete results in cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, energy, green, digital, education, people-to-people and cultural exchanges. We welcome the EU to share China's ultra-large market opportunities and actively participate in China's high-level, institutional opening-up process. China will continue to make efforts in relaxing market access, benchmarking international trade rules, and clearing up barriers for foreigners to come to China. I believe that European countries will also get more and more cooperation opportunities in China's high-quality development.
All walks of life in Europe are clearly opposed to "decoupling", and people of insight have begun to reflect on the risks brought about by "de-risking". I emphasized to the European side that "reducing risks" cannot lead to cooperation, and "reducing dependence" cannot reduce mutual trust. Interdependence based on mutual trust is conducive to the complementary advantages of all parties and is conducive to accelerating common development. We must remain vigilant against the fragmentation and protectionist tendencies of the world economy, continue to pursue an open policy, adhere to fair competition, safeguard free trade, avoid pan-security, and resist anti-globalization.
China and the EU attach great importance to each other's important influence in international affairs. Both support world multipolarity and democratization of international relations, support the United Nations in playing an important role, and oppose camp confrontation and zero-sum game. The two sides should strengthen communication and coordination within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the Group of 20, jointly promote political solutions to hot issues, build international consensus on major issues such as climate change and artificial intelligence, propose effective plans, and play a leading role.
Europe is an important direction for major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and an important partner in realizing Chinese-style modernization. As long as China and Europe strengthen cooperation, a new Cold War cannot be fought and camp confrontation cannot continue.
4. Can you introduce the main results of this visit to France? What is China’s outlook for China-France relations?
China and France are both independent major countries with global influence, and their relations have always had strategic significance that goes beyond bilateral relations. In recent years, under the personal leadership of the two heads of state, China-France relations have maintained high-level development, and have also played an important role in the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations. At the beginning of this year, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in a warm and friendly atmosphere. President Xi Jinping and President Macron issued video congratulatory messages and exchanged congratulatory messages. They agreed to uphold the original intention of establishing diplomatic relations, actively face the future, and jointly write a wonderful chapter for the next 60 years of China-France relations. This visit to France aims to implement the consensus reached by the heads of state and conduct political dialogue with the French side on the "new era" of China-France relations.
During the visit, I met with President Macron, chaired a new round of China-France strategic dialogue with President Bonne’s foreign affairs adviser, and held talks with the new French Foreign Minister Séjournet in Munich. The two sides comprehensively discussed high-level exchanges and bilateral and multilateral cooperation in various fields between the two countries in the next stage. They also had in-depth exchanges on international and regional issues of common concern and reached a number of consensuses.
The two sides agreed to conduct high-level exchanges of visits, strengthen strategic communication, work together to play a constructive role in promoting the resolution of international and regional hotspot issues, and jointly make positive contributions to building an equal and orderly multi-polar world.
Both sides believe that "decoupling and breaking links" is undesirable and that protectionism will only lead to a "lose-lose" situation. They agreed to insist on making the "cake bigger" and while continuing to deepen traditional cooperation in aerospace, nuclear energy and other areas, actively expand new energy, Cooperate in emerging areas such as green development and support companies from both countries to invest in each other's countries.
Both sides attach great importance to strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges. 2024 is the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. The two sides will hold hundreds of activities throughout the year, setting off a new upsurge in people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Both sides agreed to jointly address global challenges through multilateral collaboration. From climate change cooperation to protecting biodiversity, China and France have always been at the forefront of the international community. Both sides are willing to adopt a more active and open attitude, support each other's beneficial multilateral initiatives, and continue to contribute to improving global governance. In short, to borrow a sentence from President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message on the establishment of diplomatic relations, facing the next 60 years, China and France will join hands to create greater glory.
5. This visit is the Chinese Foreign Minister’s first visit to Spain after many years. Please introduce the direction of cooperation in the next stage?
Wang Yi: Spain is China’s trustworthy good friend in Europe and a good partner for mutual benefit and openness. During my meetings and talks with King Felipe VI, Prime Minister Sanchez, and Foreign Minister Alvarez, I personally felt the Spanish leadership’s firm will to develop Sino-Spanish relations, as well as the good expectations of all walks of life in Spain for Sino-Spanish relations.
During this visit, both sides emphasized the need to consolidate traditional friendship and deepen the China-Spain comprehensive strategic partnership. The two sides reaffirmed mutual respect for each other's core interests and major concerns, supported each other in safeguarding national unity and territorial integrity, and continued to be committed to building a bilateral relationship with strategic focus.
All-round, high-level pragmatic cooperation is a prominent feature of China-Spain relations. During this visit, the two sides agreed to give full play to the role of institutional dialogue on economy, trade, and science and technology, expand cooperation opportunities in green and other new industries, and promote the transformation and upgrading of their respective economies. Spain highly appreciates China’s lifting of restrictions on the export of Spanish deboned beef to China and is willing to make good use of platforms such as the China International Import Expo to enhance the quality and resilience of economic and trade investment with China.
Both China and Spain have unique cultural and historical heritage. They appreciate and attract each other and agree to continue the positive effects of the China-Spain Year of Culture and Tourism, strengthen language teaching cooperation, promote the construction of cultural centers, and cultivate the younger generation who will continue to maintain China-Spain friendship. The two sides are willing to fully explore the advantages of tourism resources, provide each other with facilitation measures, enhance personnel exchanges between the two countries, and promote mutual understanding and mutual understanding between the people.
China and Spain have just commemorated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Standing at the entrance of the next 50 years, China is willing to work with Spain to grasp the relationship between the two countries from a global perspective and a long-term perspective, respond to global challenges with high-quality cooperation, and deepen each other with high-level exchanges Mutual trust not only benefits both countries, but also serves as a model for Europe. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs website)