Gambia-China resume diplomatic ties, without preconditions

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday said Gambia proposed that diplomatic ties with China be restored, and there were no preconditions attached.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Gambian counterpart Neneh MacDouall-Gaye signed a joint communique on Thursday to resume diplomatic relations, Wang dubbed it a "historic moment" for the two nations.

The Gambia leaders said the resumption of ties was in the interests of all Gambians, so they made this right decision, spokesperson Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

The two countries established formal diplomatic links in 1974 but China suspended the relations in 1995 when Gambia resumed diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Gambia severed ties with Taiwan in 2013.

The Gambian government recognizes that there is only one China, that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is part of China, the joint communique says.

Lu said the resumption of the diplomatic relations is in the fundamental interests of the two nations and their people.

Last year, during the second summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, President Xi Jinping outlined a raft of measures to strengthen China-Africa ties and announced 10 major plans to boost bilateral win-win cooperation.

At present, China and African countries are fully implementing the consensus reached during the summit, Lu said, noting that Gambia had automatically become a member of the FOCAC.

Lu said that both countries will explore mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas, including agriculture and fishing, processing and manufacturing, facilitation of investment and trade, infrastructure building, human resources development, and people-to-people exchanges. Endit