China-Pakistan Economic Corridor enters new stage of high-quality development: Chinese FM

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds the second strategic dialogue between China and Pakistan with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

The construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has entered a new stage of high-quality development and will continue to play an important role in the revitalization of Pakistan, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.

Wang made the remarks when holding the second strategic dialogue between China and Pakistan with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in south China's Hainan Province.

Both parties will push to complete the projects under construction in time, create more job opportunities, vigorously improve the people's livelihood, strengthen cooperation in fields including industrial parks, human resource training, poverty alleviation, medical care and agriculture, and continue to release the potential of the corridor to achieve common development, said Wang.

Speaking of the current COVID-19 epidemic situation, Wang said that China is willing to share the experience of regular epidemic prevention and control with Pakistan in a timely manner, continue to carry out cooperation on anti-epidemic supplies, and choose Pakistan as a prior international cooperation partner of the vaccine research.

"China-Pakistan ties have been tested by the epidemic, the mutual trust has been consolidated and cooperation has been deepened," said Wang, adding that the relation of the two "iron friends" has been purified. The two sides also agreed to deepen the construction of the China-Pakistan community of a shared future and a community of health in the common fight against the epidemic.

For his part, Qureshi said that Pakistan firmly supports all of China's core interests and major concerns, and is willing to work with China to jointly plan for future cooperation, carry out cooperation in various fields including vaccine research, and jointly oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the epidemic.

"Pakistan is willing to work with China to advance the construction of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor," Qureshi said.

The two sides also exchanged views on Afghanistan and other international and regional issues.

After the dialogue, the two foreign ministers met with the press.

When answering a question that the United States requested the United Nations Security Council launch the snapback mechanism to restore sanctions against Iran, Wang said that such demand was "completely unreasonable."

"The United States only considered its own interests. It applied international law if the law was in conformity with the nation's need and discarded the law if it did not," said Wang.

Regarding the intra-Afghan negotiations, Wang said that China hopes relevant parties to uphold the fundamental direction of achieving a political settlement, adhere to the basic principle of Afghan-led peace progress, strive for a broad and inclusive framework, and stick to the path of solving both symptoms and root causes.

The international community and regional countries should also uphold justice and push the negotiation to achieve peace, he said.