What is the outlook for neighboring diplomacy this year?Wang Yi answered a question from a reporter from the Global Times-Global Network.
The Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) held a press conference at 10 a.m. on March 7, 2024 (Thursday) in the press conference hall of the Media Center, inviting Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau and head of the Communist Party of China, to answer questions from Chinese and foreign journalists on issues related to "China's foreign policy and foreign relations".
Global Times-Global Network: Hello, Foreign Minister WangLast year, China's neighborhood diplomacy kicked off with the successful holding of the China-Central Asia Summit, and ended with China and Vietnam elevating their bilateral relations to a community with a shared future of strategic significance. It can be said that it is booming and prosperous. The outside world believes that this is because China's concept of amity, sincerity, benevolence, and tolerance in its neighborhood diplomacy is constantly taking root and blossoming. What is your outlook for neighboring diplomacy this year?
Wang Yi: Chinese often say that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. China and its neighboring countries are neighbors that cannot be moved away, and Asia is our common home, and it is the common aspiration of all countries in the region to build this home well. **Since the President put forward the concept of amity, sincerity, benevolence and tolerance in neighboring diplomacy, China has opened up a new situation of good-neighborliness and friendship with its neighboring countries, and has also embarked on a unique way of getting along with Asia.
We insist on being kind to our neighbors. We should respect each other's core and major concerns, maintain close high-level exchanges, enhance people-to-people mutual understanding, and make good-neighborliness and friendship deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the sense of a community with a shared future will take root.
We insist on treating each other with sincerity. Advocate seeking common ground while reserving differences, take care of each other's comfort, enhance understanding and trust through sincere communication, resolve differences and frictions through dialogue and consultation, jointly respond to various risks and challenges, and jointly write a good story of neighbors sharing weal and woe.
We insist on mutual benefit. A large number of cooperation projects, such as the China-Laos Railway, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the China-Central Asia Natural Gas Pipeline, the China-Malaysia "Two Countries and Two Parks" and the China-Indonesia Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, have accelerated regional growth.
We are committed to openness and inclusiveness. We will practice open regionalism, actively participate in East Asian cooperation, support ASEAN's centrality, and promote deeper and more practical cooperation between China, Japan and the ROK. The China-Central Asia Summit and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism have flourished, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has developed into the world's largest and most populous regional cooperation organization.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Born in Asia, the Five Principles transcend differences in social systems and ideologies, and have become the basic norms of international relations and international law, contributing oriental wisdom to the correct handling of state-to-state relations. Seventy years have passed, and the Five Principles are not outdated, but have become more vigorous. We are ready to work with neighboring countries to move from promoting the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to building a community with a shared future for Asia and mankind, continue to make Asia's contribution to world peace, and continue to provide Asia's impetus for global growth. Thank you!
* |Global Network Comprehensive.