At the invitation of Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, State Councilor Wang Yong will attend activities of the ASEAN Regional Forum Disaster Relief Exercise (ARF DiREx) 2015 and visit Malaysia from May 24 to 28.
The ARF is an influential and inclusive mechanism for security dialogue and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. The disaster relief exercise is a biennial event and a flagship program for unconventional security cooperation under the framework of the ARF. The upcoming exercise will be co-hosted by China and Malaysia. It is the first time for China to host large scale military-civilian disaster relief exercise overseas. About 600 people from nine departments of China including the ministries of foreign affairs, national defense and civil affairs will take part in the exercise. Apart from China and Malaysia, other members of the ARF as well as international and regional organizations such as ASEAN and the UN will also join the exercise, bringing the estimated total number of participants to around 2,000.
Q: Federal prosecutors of the US charged six Chinese citizens with "economic espionage". What is your comment on that? If the US asks for China's cooperation in this case by sending relevant individuals to the US for trial, how will China respond?
A: The Chinese government expresses strong concern about the relevant matter and is trying to get more details. The Chinese government will ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in China-US personnel exchanges will not be hurt.
Q: A senior military official of Myanmar was cited by the media as saying that the shells that injured Chinese border residents on May 14 were not fired by the government forces but the ethnic armed group of Kokang with the purpose of damaging relations between China and Myanmar. What is China's comment on that?
A: The Chinese side has lodged solemn representations with the Myanmar side over the recent landing of shells in China that injured Chinese border residents. The Myanmar side is required to carry out serious and thorough investigation, give a responsible explanation to China, take concrete and effective measures to prevent this kind of incident from happening again, calm things down and restore normal order to the border area between China and Myanmar. The Myanmar side has pledged to provide a formal response to China, and the Chinese side is waiting for that.
Q: In a letter to the relevant Chinese authorities, the Greenpeace said that some of the Chinese Distant Water Fishing vessels in West African countries falsify vessel gross tonnage. What is China's comment on that?
A: The Chinese government always asks Chinese companies "going global" to do business in strict accordance with the law, fulfill their social obligations and practice the correct viewpoint of righteousness and benefit with concrete actions, especially when they conduct economic cooperation and trade with African countries.
It is learned that relevant fishing vessels are operating in the waters off West Africa with the approval of the Chinese government and the countries where they go fishing. The tonnage registered on their certificates has been recognized by the relevant countries. They also have the fishing licenses issued by the governments of the relevant countries. Over the years, relevant companies have taken an active part in the economic and social development of the countries where they stay and contributed to the increase of tax revenues, jobs and incomes there. All these have been recognized by the governments and people of the relevant countries.
