Croatian president meets Chinese FM, pledges to strengthen cooperation

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Zagreb on Friday, expressing Croatia's willingness to strengthen exchanges at all levels and advance mutually beneficial cooperation with China.

During their meeting, Milanovic asked Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, to convey his sincere greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China has undergone tremendous changes over the past few decades and made remarkable achievements in economic and social development, Milanovic said.

China's peaceful development poses no threat to any country and should be viewed objectively and rationally by all parties.

Each country has its own system and principles, and all countries should respect each other's development paths and ways of life and strengthen mutual understanding and trust through dialogue and communication, Milanovic said.

Stressing that Croatia and China enjoy longstanding friendly relations and have achieved significant outcomes in cooperation across various fields, Milanovic said that Croatia attaches great importance to its relations with China, and is willing to strengthen exchanges at all levels and advance mutually beneficial cooperation.

Milanovic said that he has long paid attention to China's foreign policy and fully understands its positions and views.

He reaffirmed Croatia's firm commitment to the one-China policy, stressing that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

Wang conveyed President Xi's cordial greetings to President Milanovic and commended him for his rational, pragmatic and friendly perspective on China's development and rejuvenation.

Wang also highlighted Milanovic's efforts to promote mutual understanding and his longstanding commitment to friendly exchanges with China.

With a civilization spanning 5,000 years, China's deep-rooted commitment to peace means that it does not seek to use its strength to dominate others, but instead pursues cooperation and mutual benefits with all countries, Wang added.

President Xi has put forward the goal of building a community with a shared future for humanity, emphasizing that all countries should stand together, embrace their shared destiny and jointly protect and develop the only planet that humanity calls home, Wang said.

China advocates an equal and orderly multipolar world in which all countries, large and small, are equal and uphold the basic norms of international relations based on the United Nations Charter, Wang said.

Emphasizing that China has found a development path suited to its own conditions, supported by its people and aligned with the trend of the times, Wang said that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process.