On Wednesday, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Afghanistan
During his meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar in Dushanbe, Wang said: “The hasty drawdown of the United States and the NATO escalated tensions and wars in Afghanistan, bringing the Afghan issue to crossroads. China, holding an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned principle, supports the building of an inclusive political structure in Afghanistan through dialogues and negotiations, supports Afghanistan to stand as an independent and neutral nation observing moderate Muslim policies, and supports Afghanistan to battle all forms of terrorism and co-exist with all its neighbours.”
Atmar appreciated China’s support for Afghanistan’s battle against terrorism and said that “the Afghan government will do its best to make the Chinese people and institutions safe in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan
Wang Yi met Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Dushanbe. Referring to the bus blast that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, in Pakistan, Wang said that “China is shocked by the serious Chinese casualties” and hopes that the Pakistani side will “quickly find out its cause, conduct rescue and treatment work at all costs, deal with the aftermath in time, and prevent similar incidents from happening again.” He added that “if it [bus blast] is a terrorist attack, the criminals must be immediately arrested and severely punished.”
On behalf of the Pakistani government, Qureshi expressed condolences and said that preliminary investigations suggest the incident was “an accident and no background of terrorist attacks has been found.”
India
Wang also met Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar in Dushanbe. Referring to border tensions in Eastern Ladakh last year, Wang said, “The rights and wrongs of what happened in the China-India border area last year are very clear, and the responsibility does not lie with the Chinese side. China is ready to find a solution acceptable to both sides on the issue that needs emergency response through negotiation and consultation.”
Jaishankar agreed that “India and China must find a solution to the border issue that is in the interest of both sides through dialogue and consultation” and refrain from taking “unilateral actions to prevent the situation from getting complicated.”
Turkey
On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during which he expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation with Turkey in counter-terrorism and security. Xi said that “the two sides should promote synergy between joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Middle Corridor project of Turkey” and “improve economy and trade cooperation.” He added that they must also must “jointly oppose politicising origin tracing and labelling the virus.”
For his part, Erdoğan thanked China for its vaccine cooperation and said his government is willing to “jointly build the Belt and Road, and expand practical cooperation in such fields as economy, trade and infrastructure.”
Turkmenistan
On Monday, Wang visited Turkmenistan, where he held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Ashgabat. Wang said China will continue to provide Turkmenistan with vaccines and is willing to help the country safeguard its national security. He suggested expanding the volume and scale of natural gas cooperation and “wider cooperation in oil and gas processing, new energy, green energy, nuclear power and other fields to forge a long-term strategic partnership in the energy sector.”
Meredov thanked China for vaccine support and agreed to expand cooperation in the anti-pandemic, security, oil and gas, and non-resource fields.
Chinese Diplomacy: Weekly Round-Up (10-16 July, 2021)
This week, Chinese diplomats held meetings with officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.
July 16, 2021
SOURCE: MCE