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Chinese foreign minister: Beijing ready to play role in settlement of Ukrainian crisis

BEIJING, March 08, 9:18 /ITAR-TASS/. China is ready for playing a constructive role in a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference on Saturday.

“The development of the situation in Ukraine has its reasons and causes regret. The Ukrainian issue reflects the country’s complicated history. The more complicated an issue is, the more accurate measures should be used to settle it,” the foreign minister said. “China calls for protection of Ukrainian all ethnic groups’ legal rights and interests, for support of stability in the region and for restraint for the purposes of preventing escalation of the tension.”

“The Ukrainian issue should be settled by political means,” Wang Yi said. “China continues supporting contacts with the respective parties, and we are ready to play a constructive role in settlement of the Ukrainian crisis by political methods.

China will be doing everything necessary to develop further the Russian-Chinese relations of overwhelming strategic partnership, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference on Saturday.

Wang Yi greeted the Russian Federation with the successful organisation of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

“I would like to congratulate our Russian friends with the wonderfully organised, picturesque and unforgettable event,” the foreign minister said.

“The current relations between our two countries are at their best ever stage, they are characterised by the high trust level, the rapid evolution of cooperation in various spheres, as well as mutual respect. Leaders of our countries have established deep friendly relations, which is very important for development and direction of relations between Russia and China.”

While commenting on directions of the bilateral partnership in 2014, the Chinese minister said it would develop as overwhelming strategic partnership, where it will expand both in scale and contents.

“Among basic tasks for 2014 we highlight further political trust, and intensive strategic dialogue. If we focus on the most important issues, then first of all, we have been doing everything to approach a new level of cooperation in the practical sectors and to make further steps in major joint projects. Secondly, we are organising a Year of Chinese-Russian youth exchanges, which will offer an additional input in development of friendly relations between Russia and China and in improvement of their social component. Thirdly, jointly we shall organise celebration in 2015 of the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II and of China’s fighting the Japanese aggression,” the foreign minister said.

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