Chinase Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on September 17, 2020
CCTV: Premier Li Keqiang attended the World Economic Forum Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders on September 15. Can you give us some details of this meeting? What signals did the Chinese leadership send to the world, especially to the international industrial and business communities?
Wang Wenbin: On the night of September 15, Premier Li Keqiang attended the World Economic Forum Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders at invitation. Premier Li delivered remarks and had discussions with representatives of business leaders. The meeting was chaired by WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab and participated by nearly 600 entrepreneurs. Premier Li Keqiang also took questions on international governance, global industrial chains, foreign trade and economic cooperation, etc.
Premier Li Keqiang stressed in his remarks that faced with global challenges, the international community needs to consolidate consensus, coordinate epidemic containment and economic growth, defeat the virus as soon as possible, and work for prosperity of the world economy. All sides need to jointly shoulder responsibilities, support multilateralism, uphold international order, and give hope and confidence to people across the world. All sides need to join hands in safeguarding trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and restoring global industrial and supply chains as soon as possible, so that the world economy will be vibrant again.
Premier Li Keqiang said that China can meet its major economic goals this year. He stressed the Chinese economy has deeply integrated into the world. No matter how the external environment changes, China will stay committed to deepening reform and opening-up. We will foster a new dual-cycle development architecture at home, with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and with domestic and international development reinforcing each other. It is not an isolated domestic cycle, but an open dual cycle conducive to both domestic and international development. China will further ease market access, ensure the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, and foster a business environment where domestic and foreign enterprises can compete fairly and be treated equally. While effectively containing the virus, China will launch more “fast lanes” for people-to-people exchange and “green lanes” for transportation of goods to facilitate cross-border business operations of companies.
NHK: US Under Secretary of State Keith Krach is going to visit Taiwan for commemorations of Lee Teng-hui and the US-Taiwan economic and commercial dialogue. What‘s your comment?
Wang Wenbin: China firmly opposes any forms of official ties between the US and Taiwan. Our position is consistent and clear. The US insisting on Under Secretary of State Keith Krach’s visit to Taiwan severely violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, bolsters “Taiwan independence” separatists, and undermines China-US relations as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. China firmly opposes it and has lodged stern representations with the US side.
We urge the US to fully recognize the highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan question, strictly observe the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, immediately stop official exchange with Taiwan, make no attempts to change the nature of its relationship with Taiwan, and properly handle Taiwan-related matters. China will make necessary reaction in light of the development of the situation.
PTI: Following last week‘s foreign ministers meeting between India and China and the five-point declaration, there supposed to be follow-up meetings between the military and diplomatic channels to work out a disengagement process. Can you give us a timeline as to when these particular meetings will take place?
Wang Wenbin: Like I said in my reply to Indian correspondents yesterday, the Chinese border troops have always strictly observed the relevant agreements between the two countries and are committed to safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and maintaining peace and stability in the border areas. What is pressing now is that the Indian side should immediately correct its mistake, disengage on the ground as soon as possible and take concrete actions to ease the tension and lower the temperature along the border.
AFP: The US Justice Department announced charges against five Chinese nationals who allegedly took part in global hacking operations. What is China‘s comment?
Wang Wenbin: The Chinese government is a staunch defender of cyber security and firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks and crimes in accordance with law.
In combating transnational cyber crimes, China has conducted fruitful cooperation with many countries through judicial assistance and other channels. Regrettably, the US has long taken the issue of cyber security as a tool for stigmatization, political manipulation and spreading of disinformation. We urge the US side to adopt an objective and rational attitude towards cyber security and work with others to jointly tackle the challenge of cyber attacks through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect.
Reuters: Bytedance just announced that the relevant transaction of TikTok needs the approval of the Chinese and US governments. What is your comment?
Wang Wenbin: Recently, my colleagues and I have made clear our position on this issue on many occasions.
We urge the US side to respect the principles of market economy and fair competition, abide by international economic and trade rules, stop politicizing normal economic and trade cooperation, and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for foreign companies operating in the US.
Shenzhen TV: China published and donated a new Global Land Cover Dataset to the United Nations for this year on September 15. What’s the special significance of this donation on top of the last one in 2014?
Wang Wenbin: Indeed, in 2014 China donated to the UN and shared with the world datasets of the Earth’s land cover with a high resolution of 30 meters (known as the GlobeLand30) for the year 2000 and 2010. It was the first hi-tech public good China provided to the UN, which produced effective benefits.
The version of the GlobeLand30 for the year 2020, published and donated by China, is another global public good for the UN at the 75th anniversary of its establishment. It is China’s concrete action to practice multilateralism and build a community with a shared future for mankind. Compared to the last two versions, this dataset has provided a high-resolution map of all of Antarctica for the first time, and it is also the first time that high-latitude regions of the Earth were covered by a high-resolution map, which means it covers the entire land area of the Earth. In addition, the sources of its data are more abundant and its accuracy has been improved compared to the previous ones. The three versions of the GlobeLand30 became “snapshots” of the Earth’s surface in this century, taken once every ten years. They vividly demonstrate the general changes in global land use and natural views in the past two decades, which is important to in-depth research on global changes, implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, improvement of global governance system, and response to global challenges in resources and ecological environment.
Under the UN framework, China will continue strengthening exchange and cooperation with others. In particular, we will support and help other developing countries to the best of our ability, so as to contribute to the fulfillment of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Bloomberg: A group of lawmakers of Japan‘s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will call on the government to further increase control over the Diaoyu Island, as reported by NHK. How would China like to see the new Suga administration address the issue of the Diaoyu Island?
Wang Wenbin: The Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands are China’s inherent territory. We urge the Japanese side to act in accordance with the four-point principled consensus and work with China to safeguard the overall improvement and development of China-Japan relations with concrete actions.