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Beijing, June 29 (Xinhuanet.com, Liao Lei reporting) ¨C During
recent years, the CPC¡¯s external contacts have become increasingly
active and played a more and more important role. Shortly before the
84th anniversary of the founding of the CPC on July 1, a reporter
from the Xinhua News Agency interviewed Wang Jiarui, Minister of the
International Department of the CPC Central Committee.
Party-to-party contacts help lay the most solid and broadest political
foundation for developing bilateral state relations
Reporter: Minister Wang, people in China and other countries are very
much interested in the CPC¡¯s external contacts. Would you please
briefly discuss its current external work?
Wang: The Party¡¯s external work is an important part of the Party¡¯s cause
and at the same time an indispensable aspect of the state¡¯s overall
diplomacy. Thanks to the correct leadership of the Party Central
Committee and the active participation of concerned parties, the
Party¡¯s external work progresses with the times, breaks new ground,
makes innovations, and has more varied forms and greater room for
development. At present, the CPC maintains different kinds of
friendly relations with over 400 political parties and organizations
in more than 160 countries and regions the world over. By constantly
strengthening their different forms of friendly contacts, the CPC
and those political parties and organizations have gradually
deepened their mutual understanding and increased their mutual
political trust. As a result, China¡¯s relations with the countries
and regions where those political parties and organizations are
located have also developed comprehensively. It can be said that the
CPC has friends all over the world and that its external contacts
have strongly supported the state¡¯s overall diplomacy and made due
contributions to China¡¯s reform and opening up and its modernization
drive as well as to world peace and development.
Reporter: Am I to understand that what you said just now means that
deeper understanding and increased mutual trust is the primary
objective of party-to-party contacts?
Wang: Exactly. We maintain extensive contacts with political parties,
political organizations and politicians of various countries on the
basis of the principles of independence, complete equality, mutual
respect and noninterference in each other¡¯s internal affairs. We
exchange views in a sincere and deep-going way with them on
questions of common interest and on how to run our parties and how
to govern our countries. We discuss issues that we have similar
understandings with them while not avoiding differences. In this
way, the most solid and broadest political foundation for developing
bilateral state relations is laid. Recently, Liu Qi, Member of the
Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, led a Party
delegation on a visit to three Central Asian countries, and He Yong,
Member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, led another
delegation on a visit to four European countries. These two visits
were examples of the above-mentioned approach. The presidents and
prime ministers of those countries and leaders of their main
political parties met with the delegations separately, and the two
sides conducted in-depth exchanges of views on how to develop
bilateral relations and reached consensus on a wide range of issues.
In the first half of this year, we received a number of important
political party delegations, including one led by Raul Castro Ruz,
Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. The basic intention
of these activities is to constantly push forward state-to-state
relations through party-to-party contacts.
Party-to-party contacts help solve current regional and international
issues of major concern
Reporter: I¡¯ve noticed that although some difficulties have cropped up in
Sino-Japanese relations, the contacts between the CPC and Japanese
political parties still appear to be active. Why is that?
Wang: Recently, we received several Japanese political party delegations,
including the ones led by Taku Yamasaki, assistant to the Prime
Minister; Takebe Tsutomu and Fuyushiba Tetsuzo, secretaries-general
of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and of the Komei Party
respectively; Koichi Kato, former General Secretary of the Liberal
Democratic Party; and Yoshito Sengoku, Policy Research Committee
Chair of the Democratic Party. We believe that the more the
difficulties and problems in bilateral relations, the more
imperative it is for politicians of the two countries to engage in
frank and sincere dialogue. Against this backdrop, it is especially
important for the two sides to sit down together through the channel
of party-to-party contacts to have intensive exchanges of views and
jointly discuss ways to solve problems. This is why the CPC and
Japanese political parties are maintaining close contacts at
present. We hope that the two sides will make joint efforts to bring
Sino-Japanese relations out of the present difficulties and develop
them steadily.
Reporter: Last February, you led a delegation on a visit to the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which aroused great interest
in the international community. What role do you think
party-to-party contacts play in resolving current international
issues of major concern?
Wang: The international community did pay great attention to my visit,
and I was even hotly pursued by foreign journalists when I was
leaving for my trip at the Capital International Airport in Beijing.
An important objective of the CPC¡¯s external contacts is to promote
world peace, stability and development. To help resolve current
international issues of major concern through party-to-party
contacts has become part of our work. Last February, the CPC Central
Committee appointed me to lead a delegation on a visit to the DPRK,
and I carried an oral message from General Secretary Hu Jintao to
General Secretary Kim Jong-il. I had the honor to have a talk with
him for over four hours, in which I made China¡¯s position on the
nuclear issue on the Korean peninsular clear and the Korean side
responded positively. At present, the international situation is
complex and major problems constantly crop up. As part of the
state¡¯s overall diplomacy, Party diplomacy should adapt to the
developing situation and help solve these problems. I can also tell
you that to carry out deep-going exchanges and dialogues with
political parties and politicians of other countries through
party-to-party contacts and working with them hand in hand to help
UN reforms develop in the correct direction is an important part of
our work now.
The CPC actively participates in multilateral party-to-party contacts
Reporter: During the past few days my colleagues have been covering the
delegation from multiple political parties of African countries
visiting China for observation and study. What can you tell me about
the CPC¡¯s participation in multilateral party-to-party contacts?
Wang: Multilateral party-to-party contacts have become a new bright spot
in the CPC¡¯s external contacts. Last fall, the CPC successfully
sponsored the Third International Conference of Asian Political
Parties, during which representatives of the political parties of
Asian countries gathered in Beijing to discuss how to ensure peace
and stability in Asia and how to achieve prosperity and development
there, thus forming a bridge of interaction and friendship between
Asian political parties. In order to materialize the achievements of
the conference and prepare for the next conference, a CPC delegation
attended a meeting of the Standing Committee of the International
Conference of Asian Political Parties in the Republic of Korea not
long ago. Our delegation made suggestions concerning future
exchanges and cooperation between Asian political parties which won
the support of the other delegations. The CPC maintains friendly
contacts with some international organizations of the world¡¯s
political parties. Recently we invited delegations of the Socialist
International and party groups in the European Parliament to visit
China and sent CPC representatives to participate in multilateral
activities of international organizations of political parties. All
this has won the Party more understanding and support for its
policies and proposals in the multilateral arena. The African
delegation you just mentioned consists of senior officials of the
ruling parties of nine countries. Their visit to China is another
example of the CPC¡¯s successful efforts to strengthen its
multilateral party-to-party contacts.
The CPC¡¯s contacts with political parties of countries
with no diplomatic relations with China help pave roads and build
bridges leading to friendship
Reporter: We have noticed that in the first half of this year, your
Department sent delegations to visit Haiti and Dominica, which do
not have diplomatic ties with China. Could you elaborate on that?
Wang: The CPC maintains different kinds of relations with the main
political parties of countries with no diplomatic ties with China.
These contacts surmount the barrier of the absence of diplomatic
relations and help build bridges that serve to increase contacts and
understanding between us and the political parties, politicians and
people in those countries. In the first half of this year, we sent
delegations on friendly visits to Haiti and Dominica and received
several delegations of political parties from countries with no
diplomatic relations with China. These contacts helped these
countries better understand us and helped us make more new friends.
I think this part of our work is important because it helps pave
roads and build bridges of friendship. We will further increase our
friendly contacts with political parties in those countries to pave
the road of friendship and build the bridge of friendship.
The international community is interested in the CPC¡¯s
Education Campaign to Preserve the Advanced Nature of Party Members
Reporter: In the first half of this year, the CPC carried out the
Education Campaign to Preserve the Advanced Nature of Party Members.
The international community is very much interested in that. What
can you tell me about it?
Wang: The political parties, political organizations and politicians of
various countries, no matter what their political beliefs are and
whether they are in a ruling position, are very much interested in
the CPC¡¯s Education Campaign to Preserve the Advanced Nature of
Party Members and believe that it is an important step the CPC is
taking to strengthen its governance capacity. I often answer
questions raised by our guests from foreign parties about that and
deeply feel its broad international influence. My Department also
carried out the campaign in the first half of this year in
accordance with the unified requirements and plan of the CPC Central
Committee. By earnestly carrying out the campaign, the Department¡¯s
functionaries engaging in external contacts have enhanced their
sense of responsibility and sense of mission, and have become more
enthusiastic and willing to enter a new phase in the Party¡¯s
external work. I am convinced that under the leadership of the
Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary, the
CPC¡¯s external work will enter a new phase of vigorous development,
and it¡¯s external contacts will make new contributions to enabling
China to secure a peaceful and stable international climate,
friendly and good-neighborly relations with neighboring countries, a
cooperative environment of equality and mutual benefit, and
objective and friendly public opinion.
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