President speaks by phone with leaders of France, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea

China and the European Union should enhance mutual trust, reduce misjudgments and appropriately manage their differences through continuous high-level communications and dialogue, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday.

He also called on the two sides to strengthen political guidance over their relations to ensure the stable development of China-EU ties in the long term.

Xi made the remarks as he spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that China expects France to play a positive role in promoting the sound development of China-EU relations.

Xi said that the potential of China-EU cooperation should be further realized in areas such as interconnectivity, digital technology, environmental protection, scientific and technological innovation and healthcare by serving the needs of enterprises and people in both China and the EU.

As the world situation is rapidly changing, Xi said that timely communication and coordination between him and his French counterpart will not only help maintain the direction of China-France relations, but also provide more stability for the world. Recent incidents that have occurred in the world once again showed that France is right to push for EU strategic autonomy, he said.

Noting that China highly values developing its relations with France, Xi called on the two countries to expand bilateral cooperation in new fields including artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals while consolidating current cooperation in traditional fields.

Macron said in the phone call that his country is firmly committed to pushing forward EU-China relations in a constructive way and deepening EU-China cooperation in areas including trade, the economy and climate change by enhancing dialogue at various levels and solving disputes.

France stands ready to work with China to achieve more from practical bilateral cooperation and expects the EU-China investment treaty to come into effect at an early date, he said.

In another phone conversation on Tuesday with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Xi urged China and Pakistan to deepen counterterrorism and security cooperation and practice true multilateralism in order to safeguard their common interests and jointly maintain world peace and stability.

Facing a world undergoing profound changes unseen in a century and witnessing more sources of turbulence and risks, Xi said that the two countries should stand more firmly alongside each other, push forward their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

He expressed China's support for its neighbor to explore a path of development that conforms to its domestic conditions, saying that China is willing to share with Pakistan the new opportunities brought by its high-quality development.

China will continue to offer support for Pakistan to fight the pandemic, jointly build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor with high quality and strengthen their cooperation in areas such as agriculture, digital economy and people's livelihoods, Xi said.

Khan said in the phone conversation that his country follows the one-China principle and firmly supports China's position on issues that concern its core interests such as those related to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and human rights.

Khan also said that Pakistan highly values the safety of Chinese personnel and institutions in the country and will continue to protect them with concrete measures.

When talking with James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, in a phone conversation also on Tuesday, Xi said that China stands ready to work with Papua New Guinea to maintain bilateral friendly cooperation and build a community with a shared future for China and Pacific island countries.

The China-Papua New Guinea relationship has become a role model of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation among countries of different sizes and different social systems, he said.

The president said that China is willing to continue to provide Papua New Guinea with economic and technical assistance with no political conditions attached and provide various kinds of support for the country to combat the pandemic.

Calling China a sincere partner and reliable friend of Papua New Guinea, Marape said his country appreciates the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative proposed by China and welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest and carry out cooperation in the country.