Ankara hails Beijing's proposal for peace

Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meet the media on Tuesday during a joint news conference after their meeting in Beijing. WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

Following the China-Turkiye foreign ministers' talks on Tuesday, Ankara highlighted the two countries' shared views on hot topics related to global peace, such as the recent six-point consensus put forward by China and Brazil for a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

"We speak highly of it," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday.

"I am pleased to see that Turkiye's and China's positions on ending the battles and promoting peace for the Ukraine crisis are fully aligned," Fidan added.

The consensus was issued on May 24 to prevent the tensions from spilling over or escalating, and to reject any attempt to fuel the crisis.

It also called for convening "an international peace conference recognized by Russia and Ukraine at an appropriate time, with the equal participation of all parties, and fair discussion of all proposals for peace".

Foreign Minister Wang said that, in just over a week, "45 countries from five continents have responded positively to the six-point consensus in different ways".

"Twenty-six of them have confirmed their subscription to it or are earnestly studying the way of subscribing to it," he added.

Wang confirmed that the two major stakeholders in the crisis — Russia and Ukraine — have also recognized the majority of the contents of the consensus, and China sincerely welcomes more countries to support and join it.

Beijing believes that as long as more countries support the proposal, "the closer the day of convening a real peace conference will be, and the brighter the prospects for peace will be", Wang said.

Last week, Beijing responded to Switzerland's preparation for the first peace summit on the Ukraine crisis, saying that the event's arrangements fall significantly short of China's requirements and the general expectations of the international community, "making it difficult for China to participate".

On Tuesday, Wang followed up by saying that China attaches great importance to the work done by Switzerland in preparing for the summit and has "put forward constructive advice to Switzerland a number of times".

"Switzerland has consistently made positive comments on and expressed its gratitude for that," he said.

"There are many conferences in the world today, and China will decide on its own whether or not to participate in them and how to participate in them, based on its own position," he added.

Before his talks with Wang on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan met with Vice-President Han Zheng in Beijing.

Fidan told the Chinese side that Turkiye adheres to the one-China principle and brooks no activities sabotaging China's territorial integrity.

He added that his country opposes bloc-based confrontation and does not recognize or support the wrongful moves of suppressing and coercing China's development.

Speaking to Fidan, Wang said China supports Turkiye's efforts to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, and appreciates its support for China's legitimate position on the core interests involving China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.

China has become Turkiye's largest trading partner in Asia and third-largest in the world. Annual trade between the two countries reached $43.4 billion in 2023, up 13.5 percent year-on-year.

On Tuesday, both sides underscored the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative and Turkiye's Middle Corridor vision, vowing to deepen collaboration in a wide range of areas, from trade to culture.

Analysts noted that China and Turkiye are both major emerging market countries and members of the Group of 20, and they have broad common interests in upholding international fairness and justice.

Wang told Fidan that the two countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation under multilateral frameworks, reject hegemony and power politics, and oppose a few countries' attempts to monopolize international affairs.

Fidan said Ankara highly appreciates Beijing's fair and just position on topics such as Ukraine and the Middle East, and looks forward to playing a constructive role together with China.