The League of Arab States
On Monday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent a congratulatory message to the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit on his re-election. Wang Yi said that he was ready to follow up on the outcomes made at the 9th Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum that was held in July last year, in which the participants decided to uphold multilateralism and defeat COVID-19 through joint cooperation. Wang also promised to assist in making preparations for the first China-Arab Summit. In conclusion, both sides expressed their hope of pushing the China-Arab strategic partnership to a new level.
Luxembourg
On Tuesday, Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn. Wang said that Luxembourg is “an important bridge” in forwarding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Europe. Moreover, Wang hoped that Luxembourg will continue to provide “a fair and just business environment” and “deepen practical cooperation” in the sectors of “aviation, freight, telecommunications, finance and culture”.
In addition, he hoped that Luxembourg will play an “active role” in the development of European Union (EU)-China relations, especially with regards to ratifying and bringing into effect the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). According to media reports, the deal will give EU firms better access to the Chinese market, improve competition conditions, and remove barriers to joint-venture requirements and caps on foreign ownership, and protect foreign investments in China for certain EU industries, such as new energy vehicles, cloud computing services, financial services, and health. It is also expected to open up China’s manufacturing sector to EU companies, as well as its construction, advertising, air transport, and telecoms industries.
ASEAN
On the same day, Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui virtually attended the opening ceremony in celebration of the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations and delivered a keynote speech. The ceremony saw the participation of the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Lim Jock Hoi, Philippine Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, and Indonesian senior official for ASEAN Cooperation Sidharto Suryodipuro, among others.
The celebrations looked back at the last 30 years of cooperation between China and the region, which included coping with the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the September 11 Attacks in 2001, the 2003 SARS pandemic, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and, now, the COVID-19 outbreak. Further, the two also celebrated the anniversary of the China-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) that was fully established in 2010, and the China-ASEAN FTA Upgrading Protocol took full effect in 2019.
Moreover, last year, the bilateral trade increased by more than 80 times to over $684.6 billion compared to1991 levels. In this regard, the ceremony celebrated China remaining ASEAN’s top trading partner for the last 12 years and ASEAN replacing the European Union (EU) as China’s largest trading partner in history. The two sides also facilitated the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) last year, which is the world’s largest FTA in the making.
Luo Zhaohui said that the two “must foster new growth drivers” and concluded by saying that, by launching the 14th Five-year Plan this year, China will further open its market to the outside world, which is expected to bring in more opportunities for China-ASEAN cooperation.
Poland
Also on Tuesday, Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. Both sides decided to open new prospects for China-Poland relations through China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) cooperation.
In response, Zbigniew Rau congratulated China on its achievements in economic development and efforts towards pandemic prevention and control. He was also appreciative of China’s commitment to making vaccines “a global public good”.
This comes only two weeks after Polish President Andrzej Duda conversed with President Xi Jinping. Xi said that China will aim to expand the import of quality agricultural and food products from Poland under the cooperation framework of CEEC. The recently completed negotiations on the China-EU investment agreement will further help facilitate broader cooperation between the two countries. Poland, which is one of the 17 members of the CEEC, last engaged with China during the recent China-CEEC Summit that was held on February 9.
Syria
On Wednesday, President Xi Jinping sent a sympathy message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma Fawaz al-Assad, who are both currently infected with COVID-19. Xi expressed hope that the first couple will make a speedy recovery and defeat the pandemic in their country.
Chinese Diplomatic Round-Up (March 6-12, 2021)
This week, Chinese diplomats conducted meetings with representatives from Luxembourg, Poland, and the Arab League. Find out more about what was said:
March 12, 2021
SOURCE: POOL, REUTERS