Working Together to Build a Stronger China-Pacific Island Countries Community
with a Shared Future
Speech by H.E. Liu Jianchao
Minister of the International Department of
The CPC Central Committee
Vanuatu, 27 May 2024
Hon. Prime Minister Salwai,
Hon. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Seremaiah,
Hon. Ministers and Members of Parliament,
Hon. Chief Raven,
Lord Mayor Kiel,
Dear Political Party Leaders,
USP Faculty and Students,
Media Representatives,
Representatives from the Chinese Alumni Association,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to begin by thanking Deputy Prime Minister Seremaiah for your kind introduction and the government of Vanuatu for the warm hospitality and friendship rendered to me and my delegation and the thoughtful arrangements you made for our visit. It gives me great pleasure to meet all of you in this beautiful city of Port Vila.
This is my very first visit to Vanuatu. This destination is carefully chosen as Vanuatu is the most friendly country with the strongest relations with China. The country is no stranger to me. Over the years, my Department has maintained close contact with political parties of Vanuatu and I myself have met with many of them during their trip to China. Every time we met, we had warm and friendly interactions, just like old friends. Yesterday, when I set foot on the soil, I managed to meet some of them, leaders of political parties of Vanuatu. We had useful and in-depth exchange of views on how to make our comprehensive strategic partnership stronger. Later I also made acquaintance with new friends, including the President and the Prime Minister. Today, I’m particularly happy to have an in-depth discussion with Vanuatu friends of various sectors on issues of common interest.
I understand that many of you haven’t got a chance to visit China in recent years due to the pandemic. I wish to take this opportunity to brief you on what is going on in China.
At the 20th CPC National Congress in October 2022, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping stressed that our central task for now is to build China into a modern socialist country and rejuvenate the Chinese nation through a Chinese path to modernization. The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, which is to be held in Beijing this coming July, will focus on ways and means to further deepen reforms and advance Chinese modernization. Reform is once again made the key word, showing our resolve to follow it through.
China is pursuing high-quality development and high-standard opening-up. Efforts are being made to upgrade traditional industries, nurture emerging industries, and lay the ground work for future industries to achieve high-quality development. We are also steadily expanding institutional opening-up and reducing the negative list for foreign investment in China. For the past 15 years in a row, China has remained the world’s second largest importer, with an accumulated import value of nearly RMB200 trillion. Going forward, we will import more quality products from the world and make it easier for foreign nationals to work, study, and travel in China.
China is advancing the building of a human community with a shared future. Seventy years ago, Premier Zhou Enlai proposed for the very first time the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which are: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. Seven decades on, the Five Principles have become an important norm governing international relations with the endorsement of many countries in the world. In recent years, President Xi Jinping put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, contributing China’s wisdom and strength to the cause of human progress. China is ready to pursue high-quality cooperation with all countries in the world within the BRI framework, and implement the three global initiatives to promote world peace, stability and prosperity.
As China makes further progress in its modernization drive and the building of a human community with a shared future, it will bring about a bigger market and more opportunities for win-win cooperation between China and other countries. Countries around the world including Vanuatu are welcome to join us in the modernization drive and share in the opportunities.
Colleagues,
Though our two countries are separated by long a distance, many Chinese people are yearning to visit Vanuatu some day. They have this idea not only because Vanuatu is ranked as the world’s happiest country in the 2024 Happy Planet Index, but also because our two peoples share long-standing friendship. As early as 1920s, the Chinese people came to Vanuatu to work and live. They got along with the local people and sowed the seeds of friendship. Over the past 42 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, our bilateral relations have grown from strength to strength thanks to the strategic guidance of our leaders. President Xi Jinping has stressed on many occasions that Vanuatu is a good friend, good partner and good brother of China in the Pacific islands region.
China and Vanuatu are good friends treating each other with sincerity. Upholding the principle of sincerity and trust, China and Vanuatu have nurtured deep friendship. With frequent high-level interactions and close exchanges between government agencies, political parties, parliaments and local authorities of the two sides, our political mutual trust has been further strengthened. China is ready to continue such dialogues and exchanges with Vanuatu. You are welcome to visit China to know more about it and carry the friendship forward.
China and Vanuatu are good partners for mutually beneficial cooperation. Vanuatu is one of the first Pacific Island Countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative by signing an MOU and a cooperation plan. Vanuatu has rich marine resources and China has a huge market. Cooperation between us in areas of infrastructure, agriculture and fishery boasts huge potential and have yielded fruitful results. In 2023, our bilateral trade reached US$138 million, an increase of 27% year-on-year. China is ready to work with Vanuatu to better synergize our development strategies and realize common development for the benefit of our two peoples.
China and Vanuatu are good brothers supporting each other. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries have supported one other on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns. The Taiwan question is at the core of China’s core interests. On this matter of principle that involves the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and the feelings of 1.4 billion Chinese people, there is no room for ambiguity. We deeply appreciate Vanuatu’s commitment to the one-China policy and its support to China’s endeavor to safeguard its national unity and territorial integrity. I got encouraged from last night’s meeting with leaders of Vanuatu political parties. They all reconfirmed this commitment. China also firmly supports Vanuatu in its effort to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the international arena and independently explore a development path that suits your own national conditions. China stands ready to work with Vanuatu to continue our mutual support and strengthen coordination and cooperation in the United Nations and other multilateral mechanisms.
Colleagues,
China-Vanuatu relations are an epitome of relations between China and Pacific Island Countries. China’s commitment to the policy of friendship and cooperation with Pacific Island Countries remain as strong as ever no matter how the international landscape evolves. President Xi Jinping visited this region twice respectively in 2014 and 2018. During his meeting with leaders of the region, all participants agreed to establish the comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual respect and common development between China and Pacific Island Countries, setting the course for closer cooperation between the two sides. Over the past several decades, China has upheld the following principles in handling its relations with Pacific Island countries:
The first principle is to treat each other as equals with mutual respect. President Xi Jinping points out that mutual respect and equality among all countries represents the call of our times and is the foremost principle of the UN Charter. China upholds a “four full respects” policy toward Pacific Island Countries, namely China fully respects the sovereignty and independence of Pacific Island Countries, fully respects their will, fully respects their culture and tradition, and fully respects their effort to seek strength through unity. Thanks to the concerted efforts of the two sides, China’s relationship with Pacific Island Countries has served as a shining example of mutual respect, solidarity and collaboration. Going forward, China will continue to strengthen dialogue and communication with Pacific Island Countries at all levels in an effort to cement mutual trust and keep moving forward our comprehensive strategic partnership.
The second principle is to pursue common interests while putting friendship first. President Xi stresses that China, placing the greater good above its own interests, will always be a reliable friend and sincere partner for fellow developing countries. When planning cooperation with Pacific Island countries, China has prioritized areas that our friends care about the most, such as climate change, economic growth, people’s livelihood and social stability. In providing assistance, China never attaches any political strings, never imposes our will on others and never makes empty promises. As we Chinese believe that “it’s more important to teach a man to fish than to give him fish”, we introduced the technology for growing Juncao and upland rice to the region and helped countries develop the garment industry and the service sector. It was President Xi himself who promoted the demonstration project of Juncao in Pacific Island Countries almost 20 years ago when he served as governor of Fujian Province, ushering in an era of international cooperation on Juncao technology. We have in our delegation a colleague from Fujian. Mr. Zhao Mingzheng is the deputy mayor of Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian Province. China will continue to help Pacific Island Countries within the framework of South-South cooperation to the best of its capacity. We are ready to better align our development strategy with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and other development plans of countries in the region to achieve common development.
The third principle is to look out for each other with mutual support. As stressed by President Xi Jinping, China will always remain a member of the family of developing countries. The vote of China in the United Nations Security Council belongs to developing countries. China and Pacific Island Countries have supported one another on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns. China will continue to do so, and call for greater international attention to the special circumstances and legitimate concerns of Pacific Island Countries. Let us work together to advocate an equal and orderly multi-polar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization to defend the common interests of developing countries.
The fourth principle is to pursue over-the-board cooperation with an open and inclusive mindset. China and Pacific Island Countries enjoy a long history of engagement, profound people-to-people friendship, and a shared aspiration for development. Cooperation between us is a natural thing. It is not targeted at nor controlled by any third party. Pacific Island Countries are fully entitled to independently handle their own affairs and choose partners for cooperation. China is ready for trilateral or multi-lateral cooperation with countries in and outside the region, who truly care about the development of Pacific Island Countries in line with the will and actual needs of the latter, so as to facilitate economic growth and improve people’s lives.
Colleagues,
A verse of the lyrics of Yumi Yumi Yumi, the national anthem of Vanuatu, really stay with me, “There were many ways before. There are many ways today. But we are all one, despite our many ways. ” Although China, Vanuatu and other Pacific Island Countries might be different in our political systems, histories, cultures, and natural environments, we belong to a community with a shared future as we are linked by the vast Pacific Ocean and bonded by the deep friendship. China stands ready to enhance communication and promote pragmatic cooperation with Vanuatu to jointly build a stronger China-Pacific Island Countries community with a shared future.
Prime Minister Salwai and Deputy Prime Minister Seremaiah, thank you again for your presence and attention. Thank you all indeed!