China and the Solomon Islands need to be vigilant against a few countries’ attempts to constantly interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs in the name of human rights under the Cold War mentality and jointly uphold the basic norms of international relations and international fairness and justice, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a phone conversation with Solomon Islands’ Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele on Thursday.
Wang said that China extends deep sympathies and sincere condolences to the Solomon Islands over the serious riots that broke out in its capital city not long ago, and strongly condemns all the violent acts.
During the riots, some forces with ulterior motives took the chance to smear China-Solomon Islands relations and attempted to subvert the outcomes achieved between the two countries, which does not comply with the interests of Solomon Islands’ people at all and is doomed to fail, Wang said.
“China highly appreciates that the Solomon Islands has reiterated its strict compliance with the one-China policy and strongly responded to baseless accusations,” Wang noted.
After this test, China-Solomon Islands relations have become stronger than ever before. China is fully confident in the prospects for bilateral relations and will take a series of measures to support and assist the Solomon Islands in restoring order and reconstruction and achieving stable development, he said.
Manele thanked China for providing enormous support and assistance to the Solomon Islands’ economic and social development and expressed sincere condolences for the property losses suffered by Chinese citizens in the Solomon Islands during the riots.
According to previous media reports, there were external forces behind the unrest in the Solomon Islands, which was partly to do with geopolitical competition among major powers. Certain external forces intended to drive Chinese mainland political and economic power out of the country, but the Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has defended the ties with China throughout the unrest.
Any attempt to disrupt the normal development of bilateral relations between the two sides is futile, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in November. Bilateral exchanges and cooperation in economy and trade, infrastructure, education, health and other fields have yielded great achievements, which have benefited people from the two sides.
Photo: China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi
