On Wednesday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with officials from Central Asia.
C+C5
Wang hosted the second “China+Central Asia” (C+C5) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, which was the starting point of the ancient Silk Road that was historically used for exchanges between the two sides. The gatherin was attended by Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov, and Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.
The group achieved an eight-point consensus wherein they pledged to:
- Strengthen strategic mutual trust, respect each other’s independent choice of development paths, and firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests.
- Utilise the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between China and the Central Asian countries as an opportunity to review the successful experience and chart the course of cooperation for the next three decades.
- Fight against the pandemic, strengthen medical and health cooperation.
- To continue to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, implement a batch of model projects in economic and trade, energy, transportation, and investment, and build the Eurasian land connectivity bridge.
- Build the sub-national cooperation mechanism of “China+Central Asia”.
- Contribute to regional security and stability, and support and promote the political settlement of the Afghan issue.
- Safeguard international fairness and justice, uphold multilateralism, oppose interference in others’ internal affairs.
- Strengthen the establishment of the mechanism for the C+C5 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
On the sidelines of the C+C5, Wang Yi also participated in bilateral meetings with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Kazakhstan
In his meeting with Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Wang assured the leaders that China stands ready to enhance vaccine cooperation, deepen medical and healthcare cooperation, share pandemic prevention, control, and treatment experience, and undertake remote medical and traditional medicine cooperation with Kazakhstan.
The diplomat added that both sides need to focus on the post-pandemic period, keep advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, implement the cooperation roadmap of the alignment between the Silk Road Economic Belt and the new economic policy of “Bright Road” Initiative, and actively promote the synergy of China's 14th Five-year Plan with the Kazakhstan 2025 development strategy.
Tleuberdi thanked China for its support during the pandemic and expressed hope that the two countries will boost the synergy of the new economic policy of the “Bright Road” Initiative with the Belt and Road Initiative, accelerate the signing of bilateral economic and trade cooperation plan, and deepen cooperation in the fields of connectivity, industrial capacity and investment at sub-national levels.
Kyrgyzstan
Wang also held talks with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev wherein he affirmed China’s pandemic support to the nation and its willingness to work with Kyrgyzstan to expand Belt and Road cooperation. He also welcomed Kyrgyzstan to attend the 4th China International Import Expo.
Meanwhile, Kazakbaev assured Wang that Kyrgyzstan will advance the synergy of its National Development Strategy by 2026 with the Belt and Road Initiative and strengthen cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19, trade, investment, connectivity, and education. He also expressed hope to deepen cooperation with China under the frameworks of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, and the C+C5 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to jointly combat “the three forces” of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, oppose foreign interference and maintain regional and international security.
Uzbekistan
In his meeting with Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, the leaders discussed the coordination role of the China-Uzbekistan Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee. Wang assured his counterpart of China’s willingness to work with Uzbekistan to align the Belt and Road Initiative with the “New Uzbekistan” development plan and sign the China-Uzbekistan Long-term Economic and Trade Cooperation Plan that will help increase and facilitate bilateral trade and investment. The minister also spoke of strengthening cooperation in education, culture, tourism, and sports.
Kamilov expressed hope that both sides will convene the meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee earlier and further strengthen cooperation in poverty alleviation, connectivity, and fight against terrorism, extremism, and separatism.
Tajikistan
Wang held talks with Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin as well. During their conversation, he expressed China’s willingness to further strengthen vaccine cooperation with Tajikistan, explore the establishment of a “fast track” for movements of the people, support the building of China-Tajikistan center for traditional medicine in Tajikistan, carry out cooperation in areas such as telemedicine, medical staff training, prevention and control, and diagnosis and treatment, and help Tajikistan improve its public health system.
Muhriddin said that Tajikistan is willing to work with China to expand the BRI cooperation and strengthen cooperation in the fields including energy, agriculture, connectivity, e-commerce, and culture. Following the talks, the two sides also signed documents on cooperation.
Turkmenistan
Wang also met with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov and Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Berdymukhamedov. He noted that while deepening the cooperation in natural gas, China and Turkmenistan should also vigorously expand trade, investment, connectivity, technological, cultural, and local government cooperation, as well as cooperation in other non-resource fields.
Both sides also agreed to formulate a five-year plan for comprehensive bilateral cooperation and strengthen coordination in maintaining international information security and biosafety.
Earlier in the week, Wang spoke with officials from Sudan, Suriname, and Belgium.
Sudan
On Saturday, Wang held a phone conversation with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi. The Sudanese leader explained Sudan’s stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue and briefed Wang on the upcoming international conference on supporting Sudan’s political transition to be held in Paris.
In this regard, Wang said that dialogue and consultation is the best solution to the GERD problem, adding that China supports the three countries involved in finding a mutually beneficial solution through consultation. He also assured his counterpart that Beijing would send delegates to attend the international conference on Sudan’s transition.
Suriname
On the same day, Wang had a phone conversation with Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin. The Chinese diplomat said that the two sides must launch inter-foreign ministry consultations at an early date and deepen cooperation in infrastructure construction and communications. They also discussed actively exploring energy development, so as to help promote Suriname’s economic recovery and transformation.
Belgium
Wang also had a phone conversation with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmes, during which the diplomat expressed hope that Belgium will provide a fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies. Wang further briefed his counterpart on China’s position on matters relating to Xinjiang and Hong Kong, stressing that these are China’s internal affairs concerning its own national sovereignty and territorial integrity and that Beijing will allow no external interference in the matter.
Wilmes responded by promising to carry out friendly dialogue and communication with China while promoting bilateral cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, agriculture, aviation, climate change, and biodiversity conservation.