China: In a press briefing held at the annual National People’s Congress, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: “China has stressed from the beginning the need to exercise calm and restraint, prevent an escalation, find out what has happened, and resolve the matter through dialogue”. In the meeting held on Friday, he highlighted Beijing’s “constructive” role in de-escalating tensions between Pakistan and India. Yi urged both the nuclear-armed neighbors to engage in dialogue in order to resolve conflicts.
Yi described Pakistan as China’s “Iron Brother” and suggested Pakistan and India transform their crisis into an opportunity and meet each other halfway. Yi said, “China hopes the two countries, which are neighbors and heirs to an ancient civilization, will get along, help each other and progress together”. Yi believes we can create a better future through cooperation when confrontation gives way to dialogue and disagreements are settled by goodwill.
He advised both countries to quickly turn this page and seek a fundamental long-term improvement in their relations and reminded that China has paid close attention to the present situation between the two counties and appreciated Pakistan’s calm response and restraint from the beginning. He commended Pakistan’s persistence for pushing to lower the temperature with India through dialogue.
He reiterated China’s desire for Pakistan and India to refrain from taking actions that aggravate the situation, to show goodwill and flexibility, launch dialogue as soon as possible, and work together to maintain regional peace and stability.
These comments from Yi follow Qureshi’s (Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi) statement about ‘private diplomacy’ by the United States and other friendly countries including China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Turkey, and Jordan.