MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Foreign ministers of Chile, China highlight bilateral ties and FTA

Chile has always adhered to the one-China policy, Urrejola stressed

While Europe plans to take steps to rebuild its ties with Latin America after Moscow and Beijing sneaked in as the region's new most important partners, the Foreign Ministers of China and Chile held a telephone conversation earlier this week, it was reported.

Wang Yi and Antonia Urrejola discussed Sino-Chilean relations and highlighted the fact that these bonds have continued to grow despite the changes of government.

The Chinese official also pointed out that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric Font, have maintained strategic communication and given direction for the development of bilateral relations.

He also praised Chile for treating its relations with China as a top diplomatic priority and conveyed his government's willingness to make make the most of the pioneering and stable advantages of bilateral ties.

China and Chile are committed to upholding and practicing multilateralism and advocating for the democratization of international relations. To this end, first and foremost, it is necessary to maintain the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, Wang insisted.

It is also necessary to safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, in particular respect for the sovereignty of all countries, and oppose interference in the internal affairs of other countries, he added.

Urrejola said that Chile was proud to be the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations and sign a free trade agreement with China. She added that for her country, China is not only its largest trading partner and largest export market but also an integral strategic partner with a broad space for cooperation.

Chile has always adhered to the one-China policy, Urrejola stressed.

Both top diplomats agreed to maintain high-level exchanges, promote high-quality cooperation on the Belt and Road, establish a benchmark to jointly build the Green Silk Road, Digital Silk Road, and Health Silk Road, and explore the new potential for cooperation in matters of trade in services, digital economy, smart city, 5G and clean energy.

They also expressed satisfaction with the achievements in economic and trade cooperation and agreed to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organization (WTO), so as to provide a sound business environment for enterprises of the two countries to invest in each other.

The two sides also pledged to continue their anti-pandemic cooperation, jointly produce vaccines, and engage in pharmaceutical research and development. Urrejola praised China's vaccine assistance, as well as the support it has provided to accelerate local vaccine production in Chile.

(Source: Xinhua)