China, Russia support dialogue

Foreign ministers criticize some Western countries' interference in other nations' affairs

The foreign ministers of China and Russia jointly criticized on Tuesday some Western countries' interference in other nations' domestic affairs and their imposition of double standards, and they urged dialogue rather than confrontation in handling global affairs.

Following their two-day talks in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a joint statement on global governance.

The statement elaborated on the official understanding of key concepts such as human rights, democracy, international order and multilateralism.

This "displays the firm will of Beijing and Moscow to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying commented.

In the statement, China and Russia voiced objections to moves that politicize human rights issues and use these issues as an excuse to interfere in other countries' domestic affairs based on double standards.

Both countries agreed that there are no unified standards for the patterns of democracy, and it is unacceptable to interfere in sovereign nations' internal affairs in the name of "advancing democracy".

Wang said that at the ongoing gathering of the United Nations Human Rights Council, more than 80 countries stated their support for China's position regarding the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The expansive support is adequate to prove that "justice will always prevail" in the world, and "the times have changed" for those nations that attempt to arbitrarily intervene in China's domestic affairs by fabricating a story or telling a lie, Wang said.

On the definition of "international order", Wang criticized the ambiguity of the concept of the "rule-based international order", which refers only to the rules set by a fraction of countries that do not represent the will of the international community.

Similarly, Lavrov warned that Western countries are doing whatever it takes to secure their leading status as the current international situation becomes increasingly complex.

When meeting with reporters after their talks, Wang explained the expected roles a major country should play: seeking equality, subscribing to honesty, promoting cooperation and mutual benefit and honoring international law.

Contrary to those roles are actions such as pressuring others from a position of strength; interfering in nations' internal affairs and overturning their government; seeking a zero-sum game, unilateral sanctions, conflicts and confrontation; and replacing international law with ambiguous rules and seeking group politics, Wang added.

Both senior diplomats also dismissed allegations that the two countries are engaged in "vaccine diplomacy" to expand their influence.

Instead of "vaccine diplomacy", China is engaged in humanitarian operations－in contrast to some major countries' selfishness and hoarding of vaccines－and countries should boycott "vaccine nationalism" and bridge the vaccination gap, Wang said.

The meeting on Tuesday marked the 51st talks between the two diplomats since Lavrov became Russia's foreign minister. This two-day trip marks Lavrov's eighth visit to China.

Yang Cheng, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University and executive president of the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies, said that bullying and hegemonic actions targeting Beijing and Moscow "only help strengthen China-Russia mutual trust".

China-Russia collaboration is strong and has great flexibility, and the two nations have developed unity on issues related to core interests such as sovereignty, Yang said.

Both Wang and Lavrov envisioned expanded bilateral cooperation, as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the landmark China-Russia Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

The two countries will strongly back each other on issues involving their core interests, speed up the resumption of work and business with regular epidemic prevention and control measures, serve as each other's key partners in seeking growth and revitalization and play their major roles in safeguarding fairness and justice in international affairs, Wang said.

Russia and China should further deepen coordination and cooperation in multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS (the economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, and jointly oppose external forces using social networks to interfere in their internal affairs, Lavrov said.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn