Premier Wen Jiabao's just-concluded tour, a major
diplomatic move by China in the Eurasian region, is a manifestation
of China's foreign policy of peace, development and cooperation,
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Wednesday.
It also displayed China's intent to seek mutually beneficial and
win-win cooperation with foreign countries, said Yang, who was
accompanying the premier during the visit.
During the six-day tour, which?began on November 2,
Wen paid official visits to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belarus and
Russia, participated in the sixth Prime Ministers Meeting of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, the 12th
regular prime ministers' talks between China and Russia, and the
conclusion of the "Year of China" in Russia.
Pragmatic cooperation among SCO member states
promoted
Facing non-traditional security threats such as those posed by
drug trafficking and the "three evil forces" of terrorism,
separatism and extremism, the SCO member states are all confronted
with the same tasks of developing their economies and improving
people's livelihood, Yang said.
It is imperative for them to expand regional economic
cooperation while enhancing security-related cooperation, Yang
said.
Cooperation in security, economy and humanity is the mainstay of
the regional organization, he said.
The goal of the prime ministers' meeting was to discuss how to
implement the treaty promoting long-term good-neighborliness,
friendship and cooperation, which was signed at the Bishkek summit
in August.
At the meeting, Wen put forward proposals for deepening and
expanding cooperation among the SCO members in a wide range of
areas and laid stress on the importance of swift implementation of
various agreements and consensus reached by member states in recent
years.
Wen's proposals, taking into consideration the interests of all
parties, are far-sighted and practical, and drew an enthusiastic
response from the leaders of other countries, who agreed that
deepening pragmatic cooperation and achieving common development
and prosperity are the shared aspirations of all the SCO
members.
During the meeting, the SCO members signed a dozen agreements,
including one on customs cooperation, which will greatly facilitate
cross-border movement of goods among member states.
China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership
deepened
On the relationship between China and Russia, Yang said that the
decade-old strategic cooperative partnership between the two
countries has been fruitful and has reached an unprecedented
height.
The successful and reciprocal "national theme years" observed by
the two countries have further enhanced mutual understanding and
the friendship between the two nations and promoted bilateral
cooperation, he said.??
Noting that Sino-Russian relations have entered a crucial stage
of development, Yang said President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin jointly worked out guidelines for the course of the future
development of bilateral ties over the course of? the five
meetings between the two leaders this year.
During his stay in Russia, Premier Wen met with President Putin
and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. They exchanged views on
ways of strengthening strategic cooperation and all-round
cooperation between China and Russia, as well as on major
international and regional issues of common concern, Yang said.
China will steadfastly push forward a strategic cooperative
partnership and strive to consolidate its foundation, Yang
said.
Russian leaders stressed that their country's policies of
developing relations with China will not change, and they pledged
continued efforts to enhance the strategic cooperation between the
two countries, Yang said.
The two sides agreed to take further measures to boost their
trade and economic cooperation in a balanced and all-round way, he
said.
They agreed to deepen cooperation in energy, aerospace,
investment and infrastructure, increase mutual investment and push
for effective implementation of large projects.
They also agreed to take measures to properly handle bilateral
trade rows, promote cooperation between different regions of the
two countries and increase educational, cultural, health and sports
cooperation.
The two sides signed a series of documents pledging cooperation
that covers many sectors, he said.
Wen and his Russian counterpart attended the second high-level
Sino-Russian economic forum and the closing ceremony of the "Year
of China." The two leaders spoke highly of the fruitful results and
far-reaching significance of the national years, and decided to
regularize these events and activities popular with the two
peoples, he added.
Mutual trust, cooperation between China and Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan and Belarus strengthened
Yang said that China and Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus
respect each other politically and treat each other as equals, and
that they share identical or similar views on many major issues.
Their economies are highly complementary and there is massive
potential for cooperation. In the new circumstances, further
promoting friendly relations and cooperation conforms to the
fundamental interests of China and the three countries, and is also
conducive to regional peace, stability and common development.
Wen exchanged views with leaders of the two countries on
bilateral relations and other issues of common concern. He said
that China respects these countries' rights to choose their own
paths of development, supports their efforts toward safeguarding
national sovereignty and security and develop their national
economies, and opposes any attempt by foreign powers to interfere
in the internal affairs of three countries under the guise of
"human rights."
The three countries pledged their continued firm support for
China over the issues of Taiwan, Tibet and the combat against "East
Turkistan" terrorist forces. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan expressed
their readiness to strengthen cooperation with China in security
and law enforcement, in joint efforts to fight against the "three
evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The Belarussian government voiced its firm opposition to "Taiwan
independence" activities, including the "referendum" on UN
membership under the name of Taiwan.
China and the three countries agreed to enhance exchanges
between their governments and legislative bodies, and seek closer
coordination in international and regional affairs.
Wens said that efforts should be made to improve trade structure
by increasing the proportion of high-tech and high value-added
products and strengthen cooperation in the fields of agriculture,
telecommunications, transportation and infrastructure.
China and Uzbekistan agreed to further boost bilateral trade so
that it could hit US$1.5 billion by 2010 and speed up the
construction of the highway and railway connecting China,
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The Chinese side also promised to
encourage its enterprises to increase cotton imports directly from
Uzbekistan.
Yang also said China and Turkmenistan reiterated that the two
nations would complete the construction of oil and natural gas
pipelines on schedule and cooperate in the fields of textiles and
agriculture.
China and Belarus agreed to strengthen scientific and
technological cooperation and support their enterprises and
research institutions in carrying out joint production and
development projects.
Yang said China and three other countries also agreed to
strengthen bilateral exchanges in the interest of promoting mutual
understanding and their friendship.
Premier Wen's visits have consolidated good-neighborly relations
with these countries, deepened their mutual political trust and
promoted pragmatic cooperation and yielded fruitful results, Yang
said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)
