France
On Wednesday, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister (FM) Wang Yi held a phone conversation with the Diplomatic Counselor to the French President, Emmanuel Bonne.
Wang said China and the European Union (EU) are partners rather than rivals and that the two sides’ common interests far outweigh their differences.
On Afghanistan, Wang said the international community must learn three lessons from the situation:
- It is unacceptable to seek hegemony, and no matter how strong a country is, it should respect other countries and fairness and justice.
- Military intervention is unacceptable, and political solutions to hot issues should be upheld.
- Wishful thinking of “democratic transformation” is unacceptable, and each country’s development path, which is suited to its national conditions, should be respected.
The French diplomat said France would take its rotating EU presidency as an opportunity to promote EU-China cooperation in public health, environment, climate, and trade.
Ecuador
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso.
Xi said China is willing to expand the scale of imports from Ecuador, further liberalise and facilitate bilateral trade and investment, and cultivate new growth points such as building a health Silk Road, a digital Silk Road, and a green Silk Road.
Lasso thanked Xi for the vaccines provided by China and said his government regards China as its “most important comprehensive strategic partner.”
Cuba
On the same day, Xi also spoke with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Xi said China is willing to join hands with Cuba to strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation.
Díaz-Canel responded that Cuba is ready to work with China to deepen multilateral coordination and oppose hegemonism, power politics, and politicisation and stigmatisation of the pandemic, in what can be interpreted to be a joint and veiled criticism of the United States (US).
United States
In a conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, Wang said the US needs to work with the international community to provide Afghanistan with urgently-needed economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance. He added that the US must help the new Afghan political structure “maintain normal operation of government institutions, maintain social security and stability, curb currency devaluation and inflation, and embark on the path of peaceful reconstruction at an early date.”
“The hasty withdrawal of the US and NATO troops is likely to offer an opportunity to various terrorist groups in Afghanistan to resurge. The United States, on the premise of respecting Afghanistan’s sovereignty and independence, should take concrete actions to help Afghanistan combat terrorism and violence, rather than practising double standards or selectively fighting terrorism,” he added.
Wang also urged the US to stop politicising the COVID-19 origin tracing process, putting pressure on the World Health Organization, and interfering with and undermining the international community’s solidarity against the pandemic and the global scientific cooperation on origins tracing.
Blinken responded that the US has no intention of blaming any country for the origins of COVID-19. He added that as major powers, both sides hold the responsibility “to provide all necessary information, thoroughly investigate the origins of the virus and avoid the recurrence of a pandemic.”