China Mongolia Photo: VCG

China and Mongolia have agreed to strengthen cooperation on tackling sandstorms and jointly push forward sustainable development, as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with visiting Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh in Beijing on Monday.

Qin said that China and Mongolia are good neighbors, good friends and good partners linked by mountains and rivers. China has always handled China-Mongolia relations from a strategic height and a long-term perspective, and is willing to work with Mongolia to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries, support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns, and continuously promote political mutual trust and friendship between the people.

China and Mongolia will deeply connect respective development strategies, continue to deepen cooperation in the fields of the Belt and Road Initiative, mining, interconnectivity and interoperability, and jointly build a community of shared future between the two countries that features peaceful coexistence, mutual help and win-win cooperation, Qin said.

Batmunkh noted that Mongolia-China relations are based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual respect for each other's core interests, mutual benefit and win-win results. To develop a stable, friendly and all-round cooperative relationship with China is the priority direction of Mongolia's foreign policy.

The Mongolian side has always adhered to the one-China principle, and believes that issues related to the island of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Xizang are purely China's internal affairs, Batmunkh said.

Mongolia appreciates and supports the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping, and it is willing to work with China to deepen political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, constantly add new connotations to bilateral relations, and make bilateral relations a regional model, Batmunkh added.

The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

Global Times