The Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi’s recent interview on Al Jazeera has shone more light on China’s interest in securing global peace, cooperation, shared scientific and space research, shared prosperity and general harmony in the world.
Answering questions on the Isreali-Palestinian conflict, China-US relations and the future of Taiwan, Wang emphasised dialogue and mutual respect for the resolution of seeming intractable global challenges.
On the situation in Gaza and the entire Middle East, which he noted has become a humanitarian catastrophe in nearly six months with over 100,000 casualties and over one million displaced civilians, he stressed China’s abiding priority for a ceasefire under the United Nations Security Council, which would prop it to move in with the international community “to channel all our efforts toward the ceasefire resolution enforcement, civilian protection, and rapid, safe, unhindered and sustainable delivery of humanitarian supplies to people in Gaza.”
On the final solution, he asserted that the “historical injustice to the Palestinian people must be redressed timely, and this is the right way to address the root of the conflict in Gaza.
“The Gaza calamity shows once again that the perpetual denial of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people is the root cause of the Palestinian question, and it is also the core issue of the Middle East question. The only way to break the vicious cycle of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, eliminate the breeding ground of extremism and hatred, and achieve enduring peace in the region is to truly restore justice to the Palestinians, effectively enforce the two-state solution, and bring about political settlement to the legitimate security concerns of all related parties.”
On U.S. election and China-U.S. relations, Wang said the relationship bears on the well-being of the Chinese and American peoples and the future of humanity and the world. He recalled the dialogue between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November, last year, as a sign that a predictable, sustainable, healthy and stable China-U.S. relationship serves the interests of both the Chinese and American peoples as well as the whole world.
Wang added that “The United States should not view the world through the lens of Cold War and zero-sum mentality, and it should not say one thing but do another.”
On the Taiwan and the Cross-Straits situation, Wang said the country would work with the international community for a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture. He, however emphasised that China would not let anyone separate it from Taiwan as the “Taiwan independence” separatist and the external disruptors are seeking to do.
“As President Xi Jinping has stressed, complete reunification of our motherland is the shared aspiration of the people, the trend of the times and a historical inevitability, and no force can stop it,” he said.
Uduak Edward wrote from Karu, Abuja