Chengdu: July 24, 2021 (TDI): The Maltese Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo arrived in Chengdu on Friday, at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi. Both officials held bilateral talks during the meeting.
Wang Yi appreciated Malta for supporting the one-China principle and reaffirmed that China would fully cooperate with Malta to respect the concept of non-interference in internal matters. He urged both sides to hold up the idea of multilateralism along with democratized international relations. He also mentioned that both sides should work to promote multilateralism and should oppose the formation of groups in the name of multilateralism.
He said, ‘China is eager to sign a joint Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) action plan with Malta and will also help Malta in its international and regional roles… China also expects Malta to play a positive role in fostering mutual understanding and trust between China and Europe.’
For his part, Malta’s FM solaced the Chinese FM for the damages caused by the heavy floods in the Chinese Henan province. Bartolo, while talking about the pandemic situation agreed to oppose the politicization of the COVID-19 origin-tracing issue along with the stigmatization of the pandemic.
He said that the Chinese and the European parties should increase cooperation and not competition. He also underlined his desire of deepening cooperation with China, and to strengthen mutual trust between Malta and China in various areas.
