Wang Yi Holds Talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno

On June 3, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno in Dili.

Wang Yi said, this year is particularly auspicious as it marks both the 20th anniversary of Timor-Leste's independence and of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Timor-Leste. Over the past 20 years, the two sides have supported and trusted each other with steady development of bilateral relations and increasingly deepening practical cooperation. China appreciates Timor-Leste's adherence to the consensus on the establishment of diplomatic relations, firm pursuit of the one-China principle, and understanding and supporting China in safeguarding its core interests. China is willing to uphold the original aspiration of establishing diplomatic relations with Timor-Leste, continue the traditional friendship, constantly enrich the connotation of bilateral relations, jointly draw up a better blueprint for bilateral relations in the next 20 years, and set an example of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and common development among all countries, big or small.

Wang Yi said, the "one grid, one road and one port" project jointly constructed by the two sides in Timor-Leste has become a benchmark for practical cooperation, greatly alleviating the power shortage in Timor-Leste, promoting the infrastructure construction and connectivity in Timor-Leste, and playing a role in building a solid foundation for Timor-Leste's economic development. Bilateral trade volume nearly doubled year on year last year, and Timor-Leste's coffee has become an "Internet-famous" product in China, fully demonstrating the resilience and potential of bilateral cooperation. China and Timor-Leste have helped each other in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. China was the first to provide vaccines and anti-pandemic supplies to Timor-Leste, and Chinese medical teams have actively shared experience in pandemic diagnosis and treatment with Timor-Leste. The nine medical teams sent by China to Timor-Leste have treated more than 300,000 patients and won wide acclaim. China will continue to try best to provide assistance and support for Timor-Leste to improve the health and well-being of its people in light of Timor-Leste's needs.

Adaljiza said, Timor-Leste and China enjoy a time-honored friendship and fruitful practical cooperation. She thanked China for its tremendous help in Timor-Leste's struggle for independence, national development and security defense. Timor-Leste will continue to adhere to the one-China principle, the cornerstone of bilateral relations, and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation for diversified development.

The two sides will launch consultations on drafting a text of the Belt and Road cooperation plan at an appropriate time and establish a consultation mechanism at the vice-foreign-minister level.

The two sides are ready to deepen the synergy of development strategies and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in key areas such as infrastructure, energy and production capacity, poverty alleviation, education and health, so as to contribute to Timor-Leste's self-driven development and improve people's well-being.

The two sides hope to continue cooperation in hybrid rice and Juncao technology, and build agricultural high-tech development zones, to help Timor-Leste achieve self-sufficiency in grain and agricultural modernization. The two sides also hope to explore fishery cooperation across the industrial chain to help Timor-Leste boost local employment and tax revenue.

The two sides agreed to strengthen coordination in regional affairs. Wang Yi said, China supports Timor-Leste in playing a bigger role in regional affairs, supports Timor-Leste's accession to the World Trade Organization and is willing to share its experience with Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste is welcome to continue to actively participate in the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

The two sides reached high degree of consensus on advocating and upholding multilateralism. Wang Yi said, multilateralism underpins the growth and prosperity of developing countries. Under the international situation with a swirling combination of change and instability, China is ready to work with developing countries, including Timor-Leste to support the United Nations in playing a central role, safeguard the international order underpinned by international law, oppose unilateral bullying, the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, safeguard regional peace and stability, and in particular prevent chaos in other regions from being replicated in the region.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Security Council reform. Wang Yi stressed that China believes that the Security Council reform should first increase the representation and say of developing countries and enable more small and medium-sized countries to participate in the decision-making of the Security Council.

After the talks, the two sides attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents on economy and technology, digital television, medical and health care, and unveiled the Confucius Classroom at Timor-Leste Institute of Business and the China-Timor-Leste Friendship Football Field.