Premier to visit Indonesia, attend summit in Malaysia

Premier Li Qiang will make a three-day official visit to Indonesia starting on Saturday, and he will travel to Malaysia to attend the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit from Monday to Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a daily news briefing on Thursday that Li will hold talks and meetings with Indonesian leaders, including Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, to engage in in-depth discussions on deepening high-level and comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries. Li will also attend business community events.

Mao noted that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council-China Summit in Kuala Lumpur will be the first of its kind.

"China looks forward to expanding practical cooperation with ASEAN and GCC countries in various fields, complementing each other's advantages to achieve mutual benefits and jointly upholding the multilateral trading system, in order to safeguard the common interests of the Global South," Mao said.

Beijing lauds steadfast support of Turkmenistan

Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, held talks with visiting Chairperson of the National Assembly (Mejlis) of Turkmenistan Dunyagozel Gulmanova in Beijing on Thursday.

Zhao expressed China's high appreciation for Turkmenistan's steadfast support of its stance on the Taiwan question as well as issues concerning the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and human rights. He reiterated China's unwavering support for Turkmenistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and security, as well as pursuing a policy of permanent neutrality.

China is willing to step up the joint construction of the Belt and Road with Turkmenistan, deepen cooperation in areas such as connectivity, agriculture, culture, tourism and education, and uphold true multilateralism, he said.

Gulmanova commended the comprehensive strategic partnership between Turkmenistan and China based on the principles of mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual benefit, saying that bilateral ties have seen vigorous development in various fields such as the economy and people-to-people exchanges.

Friendly exchanges with Netherlands stressed

Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang met with Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Caspar Veldkamp in Beijing on Thursday.

Ding said that China and the Netherlands, both important economies, are open, pragmatic partners of comprehensive cooperation.

He expressed China's willingness to continue the momentum of friendly exchanges with the Netherlands, address each other's legitimate concerns, strengthen practical cooperation in key areas, defend the multilateral trading system and the international economic order, and work toward maintaining the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains.

Ding expressed the hope that the Netherlands would continue to play a constructive role and make greater contributions to the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

Veldkamp emphasized the importance of deepening dialogue and cooperation between the two countries given the challenges in the current international landscape, saying that the Netherlands is willing to enhance its cooperation with China, jointly tackle various challenges and uphold free trade.