Premier Wen Jiabao's just-concluded tour, a major diplomatic move by China in the Eurasian region, is a manifestation of China's foreign policy of peace, development and cooperation, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Wednesday.

 

It also displayed China's intent to seek mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation with foreign countries, said Yang, who was accompanying the premier during the visit.

 

During the six-day tour, which began on November 2, Wen paid official visits to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belarus and Russia, participated in the sixth Prime Ministers Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, the 12th regular prime ministers' talks between China and Russia, and the conclusion of the "Year of China" in Russia.

 

Pragmatic cooperation among SCO member states promoted

 

Facing non-traditional security threats such as those posed by drug trafficking and the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, the SCO member states are all confronted with the same tasks of developing their economies and improving people's livelihood, Yang said.

 

It is imperative for them to expand regional economic cooperation while enhancing security-related cooperation, Yang said.

 

Cooperation in security, economy and humanity is the mainstay of the regional organization, he said.

 

The goal of the prime ministers' meeting was to discuss how to implement the treaty promoting long-term good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, which was signed at the Bishkek summit in August.

 

At the meeting, Wen put forward proposals for deepening and expanding cooperation among the SCO members in a wide range of areas and laid stress on the importance of swift implementation of various agreements and consensus reached by member states in recent years.

 

Wen's proposals, taking into consideration the interests of all parties, are far-sighted and practical, and drew an enthusiastic response from the leaders of other countries, who agreed that deepening pragmatic cooperation and achieving common development and prosperity are the shared aspirations of all the SCO members.

 

During the meeting, the SCO members signed a dozen agreements, including one on customs cooperation, which will greatly facilitate cross-border movement of goods among member states.

 

China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership deepened

 

On the relationship between China and Russia, Yang said that the decade-old strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries has been fruitful and has reached an unprecedented height.

 

The successful and reciprocal "national theme years" observed by the two countries have further enhanced mutual understanding and the friendship between the two nations and promoted bilateral cooperation, he said.  

 

Noting that Sino-Russian relations have entered a crucial stage of development, Yang said President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin jointly worked out guidelines for the course of the future development of bilateral ties over the course of  the five meetings between the two leaders this year.

During his stay in Russia, Premier Wen met with President Putin and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. They exchanged views on ways of strengthening strategic cooperation and all-round cooperation between China and Russia, as well as on major international and regional issues of common concern, Yang said.

 

China will steadfastly push forward a strategic cooperative partnership and strive to consolidate its foundation, Yang said.

 

Russian leaders stressed that their country's policies of developing relations with China will not change, and they pledged continued efforts to enhance the strategic cooperation between the two countries, Yang said.

 

The two sides agreed to take further measures to boost their trade and economic cooperation in a balanced and all-round way, he said.

 

They agreed to deepen cooperation in energy, aerospace, investment and infrastructure, increase mutual investment and push for effective implementation of large projects.

 

They also agreed to take measures to properly handle bilateral trade rows, promote cooperation between different regions of the two countries and increase educational, cultural, health and sports cooperation.

 

The two sides signed a series of documents pledging cooperation that covers many sectors, he said.

 

Wen and his Russian counterpart attended the second high-level Sino-Russian economic forum and the closing ceremony of the "Year of China." The two leaders spoke highly of the fruitful results and far-reaching significance of the national years, and decided to regularize these events and activities popular with the two peoples, he added.

 

Mutual trust, cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus strengthened

 

Yang said that China and Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus respect each other politically and treat each other as equals, and that they share identical or similar views on many major issues. Their economies are highly complementary and there is massive potential for cooperation. In the new circumstances, further promoting friendly relations and cooperation conforms to the fundamental interests of China and the three countries, and is also conducive to regional peace, stability and common development.

 

Wen exchanged views with leaders of the two countries on bilateral relations and other issues of common concern. He said that China respects these countries' rights to choose their own paths of development, supports their efforts toward safeguarding national sovereignty and security and develop their national economies, and opposes any attempt by foreign powers to interfere in the internal affairs of three countries under the guise of "human rights."

 

The three countries pledged their continued firm support for China over the issues of Taiwan, Tibet and the combat against "East Turkistan" terrorist forces. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan expressed their readiness to strengthen cooperation with China in security and law enforcement, in joint efforts to fight against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

 

The Belarussian government voiced its firm opposition to "Taiwan independence" activities, including the "referendum" on UN membership under the name of Taiwan.

 

China and the three countries agreed to enhance exchanges between their governments and legislative bodies, and seek closer coordination in international and regional affairs.

 

Wens said that efforts should be made to improve trade structure by increasing the proportion of high-tech and high value-added products and strengthen cooperation in the fields of agriculture, telecommunications, transportation and infrastructure.

 

China and Uzbekistan agreed to further boost bilateral trade so that it could hit US$1.5 billion by 2010 and speed up the construction of the highway and railway connecting China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The Chinese side also promised to encourage its enterprises to increase cotton imports directly from Uzbekistan.

 

Yang also said China and Turkmenistan reiterated that the two nations would complete the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines on schedule and cooperate in the fields of textiles and agriculture.

 

China and Belarus agreed to strengthen scientific and technological cooperation and support their enterprises and research institutions in carrying out joint production and development projects.

 

Yang said China and three other countries also agreed to strengthen bilateral exchanges in the interest of promoting mutual understanding and their friendship.

 

Premier Wen's visits have consolidated good-neighborly relations with these countries, deepened their mutual political trust and promoted pragmatic cooperation and yielded fruitful results, Yang said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)