Chinese President Xi Jinping met separately in Beijing with the Prime Ministers of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu on July 12. The premiers of the two South Pacific island nations were on official visits that underscored China’s policy of treating all countries, big or small, as equal.
Meeting Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele of Solomon Islands, Xi noted that China regards the Solomon Islands as a good friend, good partner and good brother. China supports the Solomon Islands in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions and in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
China, he added, is ready to enhance strategic communication with the Solomon Islands to firmly support each other in safeguarding core interests and addressing major concerns, enhance the synergy between the Belt and Road cooperation and the development strategy of the Solomon Islands, deepen cooperation in areas such as rural development, medical services, infrastructure, sustainable development and climate change response, and work together to build a community with a shared future between the two countries in the new era, thereby bringing greater benefits to the two peoples.
China has always been committed to an independent foreign policy of peace and advocates that all countries, regardless of size, strength or wealth, are equals. China’s friendly cooperation with the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Island countries is a sincere effort to assist these island nations in achieving development, falls within the framework of South-South cooperation, and is part of the common development of the Global South, without targeting any third party or seeking any selfish gain, he added.
Manele said his visit to China began in Fujian province, where he witnessed China’s remarkable development achievements and felt the immense potential and broad prospects of cooperation between the Solomon Islands and China. Noting that China has set an example for developing countries, he added that China advocates the common values of humanity, upholds multilateralism, avoids forming exclusive cliques or playing geopolitical games, does not require other countries to take sides, and calls on the international community to strengthen unity and cooperation.
The previous day, Manele had met with his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Qiang, who called for further development of their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era.
Li said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties five years ago, bilateral relations have maintained strong development, setting an example of South-South cooperation among developing countries. China is ready to share more development experience with the Solomon Islands, and strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, rural development, information and communications and low-carbon transition. And it hopes to import more quality agricultural and food products from the Solomon Islands and encourages Chinese enterprises to invest there. The two sides should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of education, health, sports, culture and youth to further facilitate personnel exchanges and cement the social foundation of bilateral cooperation.
Manele expressed appreciation for China’s strong support for the economic and social development of the Solomon Islands. He said that the Solomon Islands firmly abides by the one-China principle, supports the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the three major global initiatives, supports the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and highly appreciates China’s important contribution to world peace and development.
The Solomon Islands is willing to deepen exchanges and cooperation with China in fields such as economy and trade, infrastructure construction, medical and health care, people-to-people exchanges and poverty alleviation, jointly cope with global challenges such as climate change and push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era.
In a joint statement, the two sides reaffirmed that they will continue to follow the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, firmly support each other in independently exploring a development path suited to national conditions, and further enhance sharing and mutual learning of governance experience.
The Chinese side will continue to provide help to the best of its capacity for Solomon Islands’ pursuit of independent and sustainable development, to help Solomon Islands graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) category by 2027 as scheduled.
They agreed to expand exchanges and cooperation in such areas as culture, education, health including malaria eradication, sports, law enforcement, youth and media. The Chinese side will continue to provide government scholarships and various training opportunities for Solomon Islands, continue to send medical teams and police liaison teams to Solomon Islands, and continue to provide Solomon Islands with support in Chinese language teaching.
The two sides share the view that climate change is a global challenge that requires all countries to respond with joint efforts under the framework of multilateralism and in accordance with the principles of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. The two sides will jointly promote the full and effective implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement.
They also reiterated their commitment to firmly upholding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the cornerstone and the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, and call on relevant countries to fulfill international obligations and prudently handle issues such as the ocean discharge of nuclear-contaminated water and cooperation on nuclear submarines.
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