China on Friday offered to provide disaster relief assistance to Afghanistan in wake of severe flooding in several provinces of the country.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during his regular briefing said that Af-ghanistan is a friendly neighbor of China and China is willing to provide disaster relief assistance to Af-ghanistan to the best of its ability in accordance with the disaster situation and the demands of Afghani-stan.
He said that recently, severe flooding occurred in many provinces of Afghanistan, causing casualties and property damage.
China expresses its condolences to the unfortu-nate victims and condolences to the families of the victims and the injured, he added.
At least 20 people were killed in heavy floods and hurricanes in several Afghan provinces.
Maulvi Sharafuddin Muslim, a Taliban official at the Ministry of State for Disaster Management, said about 20 people had been killed and 30 injured in recent floods in more than 10 provinces.
According to locals and social media in Af-ghanistan, a large number of people were injured by floods, rains and hurricanes, and a lot of damage has been done to people’s property and livestock. At least 400 houses were destroyed.
Zhao said state-to-state cooperation should promote regional peace, stability and prosperity. It should not target any third parties or undermine the interests of third parties. The Japanese side has kept slipping its own agenda in diplomatic activities, played up regional tensions by making an issue out of China and hyped up the so-called China threat. By doing so, Japan aims to find excuses for beefing up its military capabilities and undermine mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries. This is not conducive to regional peace and stability and will win no support. China firmly rejects relevant words and deeds of the Japanese side.
Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese ter-ritory. The Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affairs, which cannot be mentioned in the same breath with the Ukraine situation. Japan bears grave his-torical responsibilities to the Chinese people on the Taiwan question. It should exercise greater prudence as it has no right to spout off on this issue. On the maritime issue, China firmly defends its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. We also stand ready to properly resolve differences with countries concerned through negotiations and consultations to maintain regional peace and tran-quility.
If the Japanese side is sincere about maintaining peace and stability in East Asia, then it should im-mediately stop provoking major-country confronta-tion, and do more things that will promote mutual trust between regional countries and peace and sta-bility in the region.
He said Vice President Wang Qishan will attend the inauguration ceremony of President Yoon Suk-yeol in the Republic of Korea at the invitation of the ROK government as President Xi Jinping’s special representative. The two sides are having consulta-tions on the specific arrangement.
China and the ROK are and will remain close neighbors. We are also important cooperation part-ners. We wish the ROK prosperity in all its endeav-ors and hope that China-ROK friendship and coop-eration will continue to be elevated to higher levels. We are convinced that under the concerted efforts of the two sides, China-ROK relations will continuously make progress in keeping with the times.
He said the Chinese people will never forget that on May 7, 1999, the US-led NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugo-slavia, killing three Chinese journalists and wounding more than 20 Chinese diplomats. The Chinese people will never forget such barbaric atrocities of NATO and will never allow the historical tragedy to be repeated.
NATO claims to be a defensive organization, but in fact it has repeatedly violated international law and wantonly waged war against sovereign states, un-dermining global and regional peace and killing and displacing a large number of innocent civilians. In its blind pursuit of “absolute security”, NATO engaged in five consecutive waves of eastward expansion after the end of the Cold War, which did not make Europe safer, but rather sowed the seed of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, reigniting conflict on the European continent.
The Cold War is long over. The common aspira-tion of all countries in the world is promoting peace, cooperation and development. The US-led NATO should naturally grasp the situation and make neces-sary adjustments. It should discard the Cold War mentality, stop provoking bloc confrontation and creating tension in Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the world. The US and NATO should take concrete steps to make solid contributions to world peace, stability and development.
