FM pledges mutual benefit in discussion with Cook Islands counterpart

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China stands ready to enhance mutual trust and deepen pragmatic cooperation with the Cook Islands to deliver more benefit to peoples of the two countries.

Wang made the remarks when he held a virtual meeting with the Cook Islands Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mark Brown during his visit in Papua New Guinea on Thursday.

As the year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the Cook Islands, Wang said the two countries have respected each other and treated each other with equality.

According to Wang, steady progress has been made in various fields, with trading volume between the two countries increasing nearly 300 times.

China is willing to plan bilateral cooperation in light of the island nation's needs and explore more tripartite cooperation, Wang said.

Brown said sound relations between his country and China prove China treats small nations with sincerity and practices win-win cooperation with concrete action.

He thanked China for its long-term support for the Cook Islands’ development and its selfless assistance to the country in fighting the pandemic.

He spoke highly of the contributions made by Chinese enterprises and local governments to the infrastructure construction and the improvement of people's livelihoods.

He also said the Cook Islands highly values the mechanism of foreign ministers meeting between China and Pacific Island countries as well as cooperation China proposed in a position paper, which was released after the second foreign minister’s meeting.

In response, Wang pledged China would continue to seek common development and meet challenges together with island countries.

Distorting and smearing cooperation finds no audience and is unpopular in island nations, Wang said.

He also hoped island countries will strengthen unity and adhere to open regionalism.

The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation on Chinese education and render support to each other in international affairs.