Chinese FM holds talks with Croatian counterpart

BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman in Beijing on Monday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that the two sides had always respected each other, treated each other as equals and cooperated in a mutually beneficial manner, adding that their high-quality Belt and Road cooperation has achieved fruitful results.

Noting this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive cooperative partnership between China and Croatia, Wang urged both sides to enhance exchanges at all levels, increase mutual understanding and mutual trust, continue to firmly respect and support each other, strengthen the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Croatia's development strategies, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

Wang said that cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) is an important part of China-EU relations. He added that China is willing to continue to strengthen cooperation with Croatia based on the principles of openness, transparency and mutual benefit, urging both sides to enhance multilateral coordination and cooperation, adhere to multilateralism and free trade to jointly address global challenges.

Noting this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU, Wang said that a stable, healthy and positively developing China-EU relationship is in line with the fundamental interests and common aspirations of both sides, adding that China hopes Croatia will continue to play a constructive role in promoting China-EU cooperation.

Radman said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries over 30 years ago, both sides have advanced cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefit, and bilateral relations have maintained a sound development.

He said that the government of Croatia adheres to the one-China policy, believing that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. Croatia looks forward to maintaining close high-level exchanges with China, strengthening cooperation in trade, investment, connectivity and other fields, and welcomes more Chinese citizens to visit Croatia.

Noting that China is an indispensable and important economic and trade partner of Europe, Radman said that Croatia supports the EU and China in resolving specific differences through constructive dialogue and promoting the sustained and stable development of EU-China relations. China-CEEC cooperation is a beneficial platform for promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two sides. Croatia is willing to continue to actively support and participate in the cooperation.

Croatia attaches great importance to and appreciates the key role played by China in promoting world peace and is willing to strengthen multilateral cooperation with China, he added.