At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the Gabonese Republic Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will pay a state visit to China from November 3 to 7.

Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao will co-chair the 37th APEC Ministerial Meeting via video conference in Beijing on November 3.

Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will chair the 11th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Beijing from November 3 to 4.

Xinhua News Agency: To follow up on your announcement about Gabon’s President Nguema’s upcoming visit to China, can you share the arrangements and China’s expectation of the visit? How does China view its relations with Gabon?

Mao Ning: This will be President Nguema’s first state visit to China since he took office. During the visit, President Xi Jinping will hold a welcome ceremony and a welcome banquet for President Nguema. The two heads of state will hold talks. Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Zhao Leji will meet with him respectively. President Nguema will also attend the ninth China International Import Expo and visit Shanghai.

China and Gabon are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners that enjoy traditional friendship and mutual trust. Over the past 52 years of diplomatic relations, the two countries have supported and helped each other, engaged in fruitful practical cooperation in various fields, and had close coordination and collaboration on multilateral affairs. Through the visit, China stands ready to work with Gabon to elevate bilateral relations to a new height and make greater contribution to building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

Yonhap News Agency: It’s reported that the DPRK on October 31 announced that it conducted a test of a cluster warhead for tactical ballistic missile. The test violates UN Security Council resolutions concerning the DPRK, and comes at a time when the ROK has proposed military talks, which the DPRK has yet to respond. What’s China’s comment on the DPRK’s test launch? 

Mao Ning: China noted the relevant report and the fact that the DPRK has recently expressed its position on multiple occasions regarding the military activities by the U.S., the ROK and Japan. We hope the relevant parties will face up to the root cause of the Korean Peninsula issue, stick to the direction of political settlement, and make efforts to ease tensions and maintain peace and stability in the region.

Yonhap News Agency: The FBI said on October 31 that the DPRK was behind the hacking of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in which about US$ 6.3 billion was stolen. U.S. President Trump said he would discuss the matter with the DPRK if the allegations are confirmed. What is China’s view on this incident and President Trump’s related remarks?

Mao Ning: We are not familiar with that.

CGTN: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and President of the Swiss Confederation Guy Parmelin just concluded their visits to China. How does China assess the outcomes of the two visits? What’s China’s expectation of China-Germany relations and China-Switzerland relations moving forward?

Mao Ning: This is President Steinmeier’s first state visit to China in eight years, and the first visit by a Swiss president to China in seven years. President Xi Jinping held talks with President Steinmeier and met with President Parmelin.

President Xi and President Steinmeier noted that as the world’s second and third largest economies, China and Germany should shoulder the responsibility for safeguarding world peace and development and striving for a more just and equitable global governance system. Both sides spoke highly of the fruitful outcomes of China-Germany relations, and agreed to uphold mutual respect and equality, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, deepen people-to-people exchanges, and properly handle differences through dialogue and consultation, so as to usher in a new chapter of China-Germany all-round strategic partnership.

President Xi and President Parmelin agreed to respect each other’s core interests, consolidate political mutual trust, make good use of the dialogue mechanisms in various fields, deepen collaboration on bilateral and multilateral affairs, champion multilateralism and free trade, and elevate China-Switzerland relations to a new height. The two presidents witnessed the signing of the Protocol Enhancing the Free Trade Agreement between China and Switzerland and other cooperation documents, including on scientific research, labor and employment, and media.

Today, changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world, and the dimension of change and turbulence is becoming more prominent. The two presidents’ visits to China have sent out a positive message of strengthening communication and coordination, deepening open cooperation, and supporting multilateralism and free trade, and set a sound example for the growth of China-EU relations. China will work with various parities to focus on cooperation and mutual benefits, and inject more certainty to the stability and prosperity in today’s world.

Shenzhen TV: Could you share the background of the 11th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting? As the host, what are China’s expectations for the event?

Mao Ning: This year marks the 10th anniversary of the first LMC Leaders’ Meeting. Over the past decade, with the concerted efforts of all countries, LMC has grown from strength to strength, becoming a stellar example of regional cooperation brimming with vitality and potential. Solid progress has been made in building a community with a shared future between China and the five Mekong countries bilaterally and multilaterally. Trade between the two sides has exceeded US$500 billion, up by 150 percent compared with that of 10 years ago. Efforts in building the LMC Economic Development Belt have yielded fruitful outcomes. The Lancang-Mekong Innovation Corridor has become a new highlight.  Faster headway is being made in boosting regional power connectivity. The LMC Special Fund has provided support for over 1,000 small and smart projects. The Lancang-Mekong Sweet Spring Action and the Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Action Plan on Lancang-Mekong Agricultural Cooperation, among others, have delivered real results. The Lancang-Mekong Visa has facilitated people-to-people exchanges among the six countries.

As the century-defining transformation unfolds at an accelerating pace, LMC’s role in promoting openness and development and safeguarding peace and tranquility is becoming even more pronounced. China hopes to take the upcoming Foreign Ministers’ Meeting as an opportunity to work with the five Mekong countries to take stock of past experience, plan future cooperation, discuss in particular the blueprint for LMC 2.0, explore new mechanisms for openness and cooperation, build more platforms for industrial innovation, and make greater progress in law enforcement and security cooperation, so as to inject strong impetus into building a Lancang-Mekong community with a shared future of peace, prosperity and sustainable development.

People’s Daily: On October 31 Beijing time, the Committee on Disarmament and International Security (First Committee) of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution “Promoting international cooperation on peaceful uses in the context of international security” tabled by China. Could you share more details?

Mao Ning: We welcome the adoption by the First Committee of the resolution “Promoting international cooperation on peaceful uses in the context of international security.” The resolution calls for efforts to coordinate both development and security, strengthen the role of the UN, and safeguard developing countries’ lawful rights to peaceful uses of technology. The resolution urges all countries to take concrete actions to promote international cooperation on peaceful uses, and avoid maintaining restrictions incompatible with their international obligations. The resolution also decides to continue consideration of the relevant issue at the UN General Assembly.

This is the fourth time for China to submit the resolution on peaceful uses of technology to the UN General Assembly since 2021, which has received broad support from the international community. Acting on the resolution is an important step for China to implement the Global Security Initiative. We will work with various parties to promote the full and effective implementation of the resolution and make sure that progress in technology will further contribute to peace and development for humanity.

Global Times: The Spokesperson said a few days ago that China will send special envoys to the Middle East, the Gulf region, the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. Can you share more details?

Mao Ning: To deliver on the initiatives and propositions put forward by President Xi Jinping on promoting peace and security in the Middle East and the four principles on the constructive participation of relevant parties in the resolution of African hotspot issues, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun will visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early and mid-November; Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs Liu Xianfa will visit Ethiopia, Djibouti and Egypt in early and mid-November; and Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Hu Changchun will visit Eritrea in early November. These shuttle diplomacy visits in this period of time by Chinese special envoys and special representative are aimed at promoting peace talks, easing tensions, and playing a constructive role for upholding regional peace and stability.