Upon consultation, the 7th Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting among China, Japan and the ROK will be held on March 21 in Seoul, the ROK. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the meeting, and foreign ministers of the three countries will review the cooperation progress and exchange views on the principles that should be followed and future development of trilateral cooperation.
Q: According to media reports, Vanuatu was hit hard by super cyclone Pam and suffered serious losses. Does China know about the situation of Chinese citizens and institutions there? Please tell us more about what China has done.
A: After Vanuatu was ravaged by super cyclone Pam on March 13, the Chinese Embassy in Vanuatu followed closely how Chinese citizens and institutions there were affected and checked on their situation through various channels. So far the Embassy hasn't received any report of Chinese citizen being killed in the disaster.
The Chinese Embassy in Vanuatu has reminded Chinese citizens and institutions there to increase security awareness, step up security precaution so as to reduce and avoid personal and property loss.
Q: France, Germany and Italy have agreed to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Can you confirm this and make a comment?
A: The AIIB is a multilateral development institution that is open and inclusive. Interested countries are welcome to make their decision of joining the AIIB as perspective members as soon as possible. The wide participation of countries in and out of this region exemplifies the representativeness of the AIIB. China is willing to work with all parties to build the AIIB into a professional and efficient infrastructure investment and financing platform where all parties can gain benefits, and make contributions to regional infrastructure building and economic development.
Q: Last year, China and the ROK sealed the China-ROK Consular Accord which will take effect in April. Please confirm this and give us more details.
A: On July 3, 2014, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his ROK counterpart Yun Byung-se, as the representatives of China and the ROK, signed the China-ROK Consular Accord in Seoul. China and the ROK have completed domestic legal procedures required for the accord to come into effect on April 12, 2015.
The China-ROK Consular Accord is the 49th bilateral consular treaty signed by China. Serving as a fundamental legal document of bilateral people-to-people exchanges, the Accord will better guarantee China-ROK personnel exchanges on legal grounds, provide more legal basis for the two countries to safeguard their citizens' legitimate rights and interests in each other's country, and solidify China-ROK consular cooperation.
Q: First, will Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet with his Japanese counterpart when he visits the ROK? Second, media reports say that Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended a meeting in Yunnan yesterday. What are the arrangements for his visit to Yunnan? Has he planned to inspect the China-Myanmar border area or talk to Myanmar officials about the bombing incident with Myanmar warplane involved?
A: On your first question, when attending the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting, foreign ministers from China, Japan and the ROK usually have contact and exchanges with each other on trilateral cooperation, bilateral relations and regional and international issues. China and Japan are now in communication with each other on relevant arrangement.
On your second question, Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Yunnan to brief the Yunnan provincial party committee and government on China's current diplomatic work. While in Yunnan, he talked with officials from the Yunnan provincial party committee and government on the current situation along the China-Myanmar border area and discussed work plans.
Q: What assurance has China given to the prospective founding members of the AIIB on its transparency and governance?
A: As we have elaborated, the AIIB will follow the principles of openness, inclusiveness, transparency, responsibility and fairness in designing its governance structure and operation policy. While drawing upon the good practices of existing multilateral development banks, the AIIB will avoid taking detours as others have done so as to cut the cost and operate more effectively. China always abides by such principles when communicating with relevant countries.
Q: On March 16, the Japanese Foreign Ministry posted on its website a map published by China in 1969 with the Diaoyu Dao marked as "Senkaku Islands". How does China comment on this?
A: I have never seen the map you mentioned. I want to tell you that the Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands are China's inherent territory, and this is an indisputable fact backed by sufficient historical and jurisprudential evidence. No one can ever deny this historical fact by wasting their contrivances on one or two maps. If you need, I can find you one hundred, even one thousand maps that clearly mark the Diaoyu Dao as Chinese territory.
Q: The AIIB has won support from western countries. What do you think are the differences between the China-initiated AIIB and the World Bank?
A: The AIIB will effectively cooperate with and complement the existing multilateral development banks such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to provide investment and financing for the infrastructure building in Asia. We hope that they can forge good interactions and jointly contribute to Asia's economic development and infrastructure improvement.
Q: The ROK Defense Ministry today said that China was attempting to influence America's deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the ROK, and neighboring countries should not interfere in ROK's security policy. What is China's response to this?
A: China holds a consistent and clear stance on the anti-missile issue. When pursuing its own security interests, one country should take into account other's security concerns as well as regional peace and stability. We hope certain countries can be prudent when handling relevant issues.