Mongolian president eyes greater across-the-board cooperation with China

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga (3rd L) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd R) in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Sept. 16, 2020. (Photo by Huo Wen/Xinhua)

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday, both committing to strengthening bilateral cooperation across the board.

During the meeting, Battulga asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Mongolia attaches great importance to Mongolia-China relations, and since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the two countries have supported and helped each other to fight the epidemic together, Battulga said.

He added that Mongolia is willing to deepen cooperation with China in various fields, continuously scale up trade, increase exports of high-quality agricultural and animal husbandry products to China, strengthen border ports and cross-border transportation cooperation, and continue to inject new connotations into the Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

Wang conveyed President Xi's best wishes to President Battulga.

Wang said that China and Mongolia have helped each other and overcome difficulties together, which vividly demonstrates the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

China appreciates that Mongolia always regards the development of relations with China as a priority in the country's foreign policy, and Mongolia will always be a priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy, Wang said.

He noted that the two neighbors should strengthen cooperation in the normalization of epidemic prevention and control to jointly safeguard the health of the people of the two countries, and step up planning for cooperation in various fields during the post-epidemic era to help each other's economic recovery and development.

China and Mongolia are permanent neighbors and should be good friends forever, the Chinese senior official said. "This is the general direction we must adhere to."

Wang added that the two sides should strengthen political mutual trust, consolidate the political foundation of bilateral relations, and ensure the long-term healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

During his two-day visit on Tuesday and Wednesday, Wang met with Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. He also held talks with Mongolian Foreign Minister Nyamtseren Enkhtaivan, signed cooperation documents and met the press.

The two sides reaffirmed that China and Mongolia will respect each other's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, will not interfere in each other's internal affairs, and will jointly maintain the political foundation of bilateral relations.