China appreciates Mongolia's commitment to one-China policy

BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- China appreciates Mongolia's reiteration that it will firmly adhere to the one-China policy and respect China's core interests and major concerns on issues related to Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Monday.

Wang made the remarks during talks with visiting Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar.

"China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors," said Wang, adding that the new Mongolian government has sent a clear message to the Chinese side on maintaining mutual trust and properly handling sensitive issues, and the country has expressed a strong desire to deepen cooperation with China.

According to Wang, China welcomes Mongolia's attitude and believes bilateral ties will continue in the right direction and benefit the two countries.

He said China will, as always, respect Mongolia's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity and respect the Mongolian people's choice of development pattern.

"The Mongolian side's declaration is very important. It has increased the two sides' mutual trust," Wang said, emphasizing that trust is a key factor to ensure China-Mongolia relations are healthy and stable.

For his part, Tsogtbaatar said the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which has outlined a blueprint for China's future development and set the goal to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, makes an important contribution to world development and will bring opportunities to neighboring countries.

He said the Mongolian side firmly adheres to the one-China policy and maintains Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of the Chinese territory. Mongolia is willing to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new high on the basis of respecting each other's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests.

During the talks, both sides agreed to enhance exchanges at all levels and keep the current momentum in high-level exchanges.

Both sides agreed to coordinate the Belt and Road Initiative with Mongolia's Prairie Road development initiative, build a cross-border economic cooperation zone and begin feasibility research for a China-Mongolia free trade agreement. China will continue to support the Mongolian side to overcome economic difficulties with free assistance and loans programs.

Both sides agreed to facilitate people-to-people exchanges in culture, education, technology, sports, and tourism, and to convene the first meeting of a joint committee on China-Mongolia people-to-people exchanges as soon as possible.

Both sides agreed to push forward the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. Enditem