By H.E. Chao Xiaoliang, Chinese Ambassador to Samoa
During his fruitful and constructive visit to Pacific island countries, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-hosted the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Fiji this Monday, on which consensus has been made with his Pacific counterparts to further enhance the China-PICs comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual respect and common development and setting an exemplary model of South-South cooperation, mutual benefit, and win-win results.
As President Xi Jinping has addressed on the meeting, no matter how unprecedented challenges and transformations may evolve within the international landscape, China will always be PICs’ good friend cherishing the same ideals and following the same path, good brother sharing weal and woe, and good partner forging ahead shoulder to shoulder. the world is now witnessing. China and PICs shall lead the future path for maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and promoting development and prosperity through the joint efforts to build an even closer China-PICs community with a shared future.
China will devote to strengthen political communication with PICs. It is China’s consistent stance that all countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, are equal. PICs have the right to achieve peace, development and prosperity, their people have the freedom to pursue a better life, and their future and destiny can only be determined by PICs themselves. The fast progress in China-Pacific Island Countries relations does not come out of thin air, but materializes in due course with the right conditions. China and Pacific Island Countries will continue to support and help each other, firmly uphold each other’s core interests and major concerns, and keep consolidating and expanding the comprehensive strategic partnership.
China will forge ahead with PICs on the path of development. China is ready to work with PICs to jointly implement the Global Development Initiative, and promote the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as scheduled. China will continue to provide economic development assistance within its capacity for PICs, better align the Belt and Road Initiative with regional cooperation initiatives among PICs and their respective national development strategies, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in fields such as infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy and minerals, information and communication, and e-commerce, and support more exports of PICs’ quality specialties such as agricultural products to China.
China will continue to render PICs utmost assistance in fighting the pandemic. China-Pacific Island Countries Anti-COVID-19 Cooperation Fund will further provide financial support to PICs against the virus and recover the economies. China will also continue to offer vaccines, testing reagents, protective gear and other anti-pandemic materials, giving full play to the role of the China-Pacific Island Countries emergency supplies reserve with sub-reserves setting up among PICs.
China is ready to take the lead with PICs in addressing climate change. Climate change is the most realistic and pressing challenge facing PICs. China will continue to render help and support to PICs within the framework of South-South cooperation to enhance their capacity to tackle climate change, provide climate-related supplies for PICs through the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Center, and train talents in the field of climate change for PICs. China will continue to support the work of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and stands ready to jointly call on developed countries to take the lead in stepping up their actions and fulfill their financial commitments as soon as possible.
China will further promote exchanges and mutual learning in cultural and people-to-people affairs with PICs. China will follow through on its commitments to provide 2,500 government scholarships and 3,000 seminar and workshop opportunities to PICs from 2020 to 2025. China’s Luban Workshop will offer the first batch of 20 vocational and technical education opportunities for PICs students. China will enhance pair-up cooperation with PICs at sub-national levels and implement a new batch of livelihood projects. In the next five years, in light of the development of the pandemic, China’s Guangdong Province will dispatch ten medical teams and five to ten cultural and art troupes to PICs for health visiting and performance tours.
China will constantly enhance international solidarity and coordination with PICs. China is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions with PICs, uphold true multilateralism and jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, especially small and medium-sized countries. We shall uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and jointly promote peace, security and stability in the South Pacific region and the world at large. China calls on countries inside and outside the region to take concrete actions to safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation regime based on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, earnestly respect the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone with the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty at its core, and protect the blue Pacific.
Samoa is one of the first PICs that established diplomatic relationship with China. Within our long-term friendship and partnership, the two sides have always respected each other and treated each other as equals, and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries has brought benefits to the people of Samoa. Both as developing countries within Asia-Pacific region, China and Samoa share similar historical experiences and facing common development tasks. China is willing to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with Samoa.
As an old Chinese saying goes, “More friends make your way smooth”. China will continue to heed the call of PICs and their people, while respecting the existing cooperation mechanisms and arrangements in the PICs region. As long as we continue to make efforts in line with the principles of mutual respect, treating each other as equals, mutually beneficial cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, the comprehensive strategic partnership and long-time friendship between China and PICs will surely achieve steady and sustainable growth, bear more fruits and benefit the peoples.