BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi lauded the prioritization of developing China-Slovakia relations by the new Slovak government in a phone conversation with Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Ivan Korcok Wednesday.
Wang said China and Slovakia are far apart and have different national conditions, but the two peoples enjoy long-standing friendship that is worth treasuring and promoting.
He said China wishes that the new Slovak government will lead its people to embark on a successful road that suits the Slovak national condition.
Wang also stressed that China, on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, is willing to deepen cooperation with the Slovak side on a range of sectors and carry out exchanges on governance experience.
He said China would like to enhance coordination and cooperation with Slovakia on international issues, stressing that China always preserves the international system with the United Nations as its core, safeguards the international order with international law as its foundation, upholds multilateralism and opposes unilateralism.
Wang said the COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard on global economy, and all countries are facing the important task of resuming work and production so as to restore economic development.
Along with Slovakia, China is willing to carry joint prevention and control work actively, resume normal economic and trade exchanges in an orderly way on the premise of strictly preventing the epidemic from rebounding, preserve multilateral trade mechanism, and promote the construction of an open world economy.
Wang pointed out that China first reported the epidemic outbreak to the World Health Organization which reflected China's responsible attitude, but the earliest report does not mean the virus originated from China.
Tracing the origin of the virus should be put in the hands of experts, whose research shall be carried out globally without disturbance from political factors, Wang said, adding that any political manipulation on this scientific matter is futile.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Chinese has provided urgent medical supplies and assistance to over 150 countries and international organizations, Wang said.
This kind of help has no political strings attached and zero geopolitical considerations, and it is a manifestation of China's humanitarian and responsible attitude as a major country and its active implementation of the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, he said.
Justice and truth speak for themselves; facts will eventually defeat lies, he stressed.
The mankind has developed and grown itself in the course of continuously overcoming all sorts of viruses, Wang said, adding that it will also eventually prevail over the novel coronavirus and take this opportunity to strengthen global public health system and elevate public health governance capabilities.
The Slovak foreign minister said China and Slovakia have traditional friendship and possess huge cooperation potential. The new Slovak government will always pursue the one-China policy and make the development of a friendly relationship with China and the deepening of bilateral cooperation a priority of its foreign policy.
Korcok said as a member of the European Union, Slovakia unswervingly supports multilateralism, views China as an important cooperative partner on the international stage, and is prepared to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China on global matters.
He thanked China for the timely help it rendered to the country in its anti-virus fight and looked forward to enhancing communication and coordination with China so the two countries can jointly face the impact done to both economies by the pandemic.
Korcok also agreed with Wang that tracing the origin of the virus is a scientific matter which should be resorted by experts. Enditem
