Chinese FM holds talks with Hungarian counterpart

GUIYANG, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday held talks with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, in Guiyang, capital city of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Noting that China-Hungary bilateral ties have achieved remarkable results in recent years, Wang said the friendly cooperation between the two countries has jointly created many firsts, which include Hungary becoming the first European nation to sign a memorandum of understanding with China involving the Belt and Road Initiative and the opening of the first RMB clearing center of the Bank of China in Hungary.

The Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Hungary is the first such kind of school in Europe, and Hungary is the first European Union (EU) member state to purchase and authorize the use of Chinese vaccines, Wang added.

"This fully demonstrates the high level and quality of bilateral relations," Wang noted, calling on both sides to seize the opportunity, take advantage of the situation to seek cooperation and overcome challenges together.

With regards to vaccine cooperation, Wang said China supports Chinese enterprises to explore joint filling and production of vaccines with Hungarian enterprises, and is willing to promote high-level and broader cooperation in healthcare between the two countries.

Szijjarto thanked China for the timely and advanced delivery of several batches of vaccines to Hungary despite high domestic demands in China, which helped protect the lives of Hungarian people.

Speaking against politicizing the epidemic, he said viruses neither have any political background nor ideology, and stigmatization or blame-shifting is the last thing that should be done.

Talking about EU-China relations, Szijjarto said China is a cooperative partner of Europe, and Hungary firmly supports the development of EU-China relations and the cooperation mechanism among Central and Eastern European Countries.

Wang and Szijjarto also addressed a joint press briefing after the meeting.

Noting that European foreign ministers of Poland, Serbia, Ireland and Hungary have paid successive visits to China from May 29 to 31, Wang said this is the first face-to-face meeting between Chinese and European foreign ministers this year and also a strategic communication between China and the EU in the face of the new international situations and challenges.

Wang added that they have engaged in in-depth and candid communication and reached a broad consensus that strengthening dialogues and cooperations in the post-epidemic era should be the common choice of China and European countries.

Noting that current challenges in China-EU relations deserve attention and should be calmly reflected upon, Wang said upholding multilateralism is always the most important consensus between China and Europe.