ULAN BATOR, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar here on Thursday, with both sides agreeing to enhance bilateral cooperation.
Wang said that China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers.
Since the formation of a new government, Mongolia has attached greater importance to bilateral relations and has put the relations with China as a priority of its foreign relations, Wang said.
"China fully affirms and highly appreciates this," Wang said.
"In accordance with the concept of 'amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness' in neighborhood diplomacy proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, we should take the opportunity of marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year to push China-Mongolia relations into the fast lane to make new progress continuously," he said.
To this end, China has proposed that the two countries maintain close contacts at all levels, promote the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, deepen bilateral pragmatic cooperation, speed up cooperation between the two countries in the border areas to benefit the two peoples, strengthen cultural exchanges to consolidate the public opinion bases of China-Mongolia friendship, enhance trilateral cooperation between China, Mongolia and Russia, and jointly maintain the rule-based global trade system, he said.
Wang said that mutual respect for each other's core interests and major concerns and continuous enhancement of political mutual trust are prerequisites and guarantees for the stable development of China-Mongolia relations, adding that China always respects Mongolia's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and the development path chosen by the Mongolian people.
He also expressed the hope that the Mongolian side will stick to its commitments and continue to firmly support China's position on issues concerning its core interests, such as those concerning Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang, and handle sensitive issues properly.
Tsogtbaatar said that developing good-neighborly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with China is a priority in Mongolia's foreign policy.
He said that for a long time, relations between the two countries have developed steadily on the basis of mutual respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs, adding that the Mongolia-China relationship is a great model of peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between big and small countries.
He expressed his full agreement with Wang's proposal to promote bilateral relations to the next stage, adding that Mongolia is ready to work closely with China to take the 70th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties next year as an opportunity to strengthen high-level exchanges, expand bilateral pragmatic cooperation, and deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
He said that the Mongolian government firmly adheres to the one-China policy and sticks to the position that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of the Chinese territory, which will not change.
Mongolia highly appreciates the Belt and Road Initiative and the neighborhood diplomacy featuring "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" proposed by Xi.
Both the initiative and the neighborhood diplomacy concept are conducive to maintaining regional peace and stability, promoting world economic growth, and providing new opportunities for the development of China's neighboring countries and the deepening of Mongolia-China relations, he said.
He thanked China for its long-term assistance and support to Mongolia's economic and social development.
He said that Mongolia is willing to synergize its Prairie Road development strategy with China's Belt and Road Initiative and expects more Chinese enterprises to invest in Mongolia.
The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on other issues of common concern.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. They also signed a cooperation plan between the two foreign ministries for 2019-2020.
