Chinese, Turkish FMs hold talks on bilateral ties

NANJING - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday, and both sides agreed to deepen all-round cooperation to further advance bilateral ties.

During their talks, held in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu province, Wang said that under the guidance of the two heads of state, China-Turkey relations have maintained their development momentum and anti-pandemic cooperation has become a new highlight of bilateral ties.

Wang suggested that the two countries, as strategic partners, should be committed to enhancing mutual trust and support. The two sides should support each other in safeguarding their respective sovereignty, security and development interests, and abide by non-interference in each other's internal affairs, a basic norm governing international relations.

Wang also expressed the hope that the two countries would not participate in activities against each other on international occasions and would enhance communication and mutual understanding through bilateral channels on differences in historical and national cognition.

Hailing the importance that Turkey attaches to pragmatic cooperation with China, Wang called on the two sides to further synergize their development strategies, advance landmark projects such as nuclear power project, and expand cooperation in such areas as new energy, 5G, cloud computing and big data.

Cavusoglu said Turkey appreciates the positive role of Turkey-China economic, trade and investment cooperation and interconnection in enhancing Turkey's economic strength, and is willing to strengthen the docking of Turkey's "Middle Corridor" plan with the Belt and Road Initiative.

Turkey stands ready to actively promote the cooperation on nuclear power between the two sides and fully tap the great potential of cooperation on new energy, Cavusoglu added.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Cavusoglu said that Beijing will become the only city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics, and he believed that the Beijing Winter Olympics will be as successful as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

They also exchanged views on the situation in Kazakhstan and other international and regional issues of common concern.

Wang said China values Turkey's unique role in regional and international affairs, and is willing to strengthen multilateral coordination and cooperation, jointly safeguard true multilateralism, promote the democratization of international relations, and safeguard the common interests of emerging market economies, including China and Turkey.