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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on November 30, 2023
2023-11-30 20:21

At the invitation of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be in Viet Nam from December 1 to 2 to hold the 15th Meeting of the China-Viet Nam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.

CCTV: Yesterday marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Under China’s initiation as this month’s rotating president, the UN Security Council held the High-Level Meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli Issue. Can you give us more information about the meeting and outcomes?

Wang Wenbin: Since the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, China has all along devoted its efforts to realizing peace and saving lives. President Xi Jinping made clear China’s principled position on the current Palestinian-Israeli situation on a number of occasions. China is this month’s rotating president of the Security Council. On November 15, the first resolution since this round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out was adopted under China’s presidency, beginning initial steps toward a ceasefire. On November 29 local time, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, under China’s initiation, the Security Council held a High-Level Meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli Issue. Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the meeting. Foreign Ministers and high-level representatives of nearly 20 countries, including Brazil, Palestine, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Türkiye, Slovenia and Malaysia, and all members of the Security Council attended the meeting. Foreign Ministers of many countries traveled to New York for the meeting. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland made briefings to the meeting.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that dialogue and negotiation is the best way to save lives and the fundamental way to settle disagreements. We should work for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire with the greatest urgency. There is no safe area under gunfire and no firewall in Gaza. China strongly hopes that the temporary ceasefire will not be a pause before a new round of offensives but the beginning of new efforts for realizing comprehensive and lasting ceasefire. A comprehensive and lasting ceasefire should be the overriding priority. We should protect civilians with more practical and robust efforts. Any violence and attack against civilians is unacceptable and any violation of the international humanitarian law needs to be condemned. It is imperative to fully deliver on the Security Council’s Resolution 2712. The Chinese government will provide another batch of emergency humanitarian supplies to Gaza. We should be more determined to revitalize the political prospect of the two-state solution. The justice of the Palestinian issue lies in the two-state solution, which is irreplaceable. Only when the two-state solution is truly and fully implemented, can peace in the Middle East be realized. China calls for an international peace conference that is more broad-based and effective. China supports Palestine in becoming a full member of the United Nations. We should galvanize more responsible and meaningful actions in the Security Council. China submitted the Position Paper of the People’s Republic of China on Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. We will continue to enhance coordination with relevant parties to pool consensus and make sure that the Security Council will undertake its due responsibility to work for peace and speak up for justice.

After the meeting is closed, Foreign Minister Wang Yi made remarks to the media, pointing out that on the Palestinian issue, China remains on the side of peace, justice and conscience and will continue to work with relevant parties to enhance coordination, pool consensus and work relentlessly for restoring stability in the region and a peaceful life for the people.

All sides commended China’s initiation of holding the High-Level Meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli Issue and recognized the meeting as the first event to deliver on the Security Council’s Resolution 2712. The meeting is of important significance for promoting a ceasefire and easing the humanitarian crisis and helps parties to pool insights, consensus and synergy. It is widely supported to extend the temporary ceasefire until a lasting ceasefire is realized, release those held captive, protect civilians, reinforce humanitarian assistance and ensure unimpeded access for supplies. We hope that the Security Council can earnestly fulfill its responsibility in safeguarding international peace and security, play a bigger role to ease the tensions, resume peace process as soon as possible and realize peaceful co-existence between Palestine and Israel.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held meetings with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Malaysia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Zambry Abd Kadir respectively, and had a group meeting with foreign ministers of Arab and Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and Indonesia.

China Daily: Recently, the EU is preparing the EU-China Summit. We have also noticed that the EU raises concerns to China over its economic slowdown, poor business environment, overcapacity, imbalance in trade, and its pursuit of a China-centered international order and emphasized no decoupling from but “de-risking” with China. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: The concerns raised by the EU are inconsistent with the facts.

Despite difficulties in global economic recovery, China maintains a good momentum toward stabilizing and improving its economy, which is not easy. In the first three quarters, China’s GDP has gone up by 5.2 percent year on year, making China a leader among the major economies. Many international organizations have revised up the expectations for China’s economy recently. China is pursuing high-quality development and actively building a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment. According to the survey for the third quarter by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, more than 80 percent of participating foreign companies are satisfied with the business environment, and close to 90 percent of the companies expect their return on investment to remain flat or increase in next five years.

China has never sought trade surplus. China has actively held the China International Import Expo (CIIE) and the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), working f