Northeast Asia stability key at China-Russia-Mongolia meeting

Advancing stability in Northeast Asia, building on multilateralism and boosting synergy of development strategies became part of key consensus made at a high-level meeting between China, Russia and Mongolia.

The three countries' senior representatives on security affairs held a trilateral meeting in Moscow on Tuesday at local time, the first of its kind in history.

"The three sides highly valued the results of their cooperation so far and agreed to further work closely together to jointly maintain regional security and stability," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The three sides believe that the meeting has added new connotations to the strategic cooperation among the three countries, and they will discuss about arrangements for institutionalizing the meeting," it added.

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting on behalf of the Chinese side.

Also present at the meeting were Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and Jadamba Enkhbayar, secretary of the Mongolian National Security Council.

Wang Yi noted that China, Russia and Mongolia are friendly neighbors and partners, and strengthening trilateral cooperation enjoys great geographical advantages and traditions, which "serves the common interests of the three countries and also helps build on consensus for the region's development".

China is willing to work with Russia and Mongolia to deepen cooperation, chart a viable path, jointly promote the region's prosperity and stability, and share the fruits of the region's development, he added.

Next month, the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held in Beijing.

At the meeting, the three nations agreed that they will take the forum as an opportunity to strengthen synergy among the China-led Belt and Road Initiative, Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and Mongolia's Prairie Road vision.

They also stated commitment to implementing the important consensus of their heads of state, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and accelerating common development.

During the Samarkand Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization last year, the heads of state of China, Russia and Mongolia met on the sidelines and reached key consensus, charting the next steps of trilateral cooperation.

Wang stressed the need to tap into the leading role of the heads-of-state, deepen political mutual trust, give full play to the three nations' complementary advantages, accelerate the construction of the China-Russia-Mongolia Economic Corridor, and bring more benefits to their people.

Patrushev said the three countries have similar positions on major international and regional issues.

He said the three countries should work together to resist external interference, avert color revolutions, adhere to multilateralism and build a just and reasonable international order.

Enkhbayar said building on the good-neighborly relations and cooperation with China and Russia is the primary direction of Mongolia's diplomacy.

He said the Mongolian side opposes unilateralism and taking sides based on ideology, and is willing to continue to consolidate political mutual trust with China and Russia to make the trilateral cooperation a role model of regional cooperation.