China and Vanuatu have maintained sound and stable relations and see wider cooperation fields ranging from infrastructure to media, said China's Ambassador to the Pacific country on Friday.
Ahead of Vanuatuan Prime Minister Charlot Salwai starting his visit to China from Sunday, Li Minggang, China's Ambassador to Vanuatu, highlighted how bilateral relations have developed and the prospects for the future while speaking on a China Global Television Network (CGTN) broadcast.
"President Xi Jinping attached importance to the relations with Vanuatu. On 26th, March, 2022, President Xi sent a letter to Vanuatu President on the 40th anniversary of China-Vanuatu diplomatic relations. In his message, President Xi explicitly said that China-Vanuatu relations have become a model of mutual respect, solidarity and coordination among developing countries," said Li.
In recent years, he said, China and Vanuatu have expanded cooperation to include a wide array of sectors, boosting cross-cultural encounters along the way.
"In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, our bilateral relations have maintained sound and stable development. We always support each other in matters related to each other's core interests. Our practical cooperation on trade, infrastructure, science, technology, education and media, consistently bear new fruits. We maintain people-to-people and cultural exchanges at all levels," the ambassador said.
"The history of China-Vanuatu relations evidently proves that way China and Vanuatu treat each other with respect and equality is correct, and the cooperation parts of win-win results and mutual benefits taken by the two countries is correct. Although China and Vanuatu are separated by long distance, the hearts of our two peoples are closely connected. The vast pacific has become a bond connecting China and Vanuatu rather than an obstacle to our cooperation," he added.
China established diplomatic relations with Vanuatu in 1982. In 2018, the two sides raised ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. In 2019, they signed a cooperation plan within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
Li noted that China is willing to deepen cooperation in the future.
"Going forward, China is ready to work closer with Vanuatu to promote the delivery of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative in Vanuatu, and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, so as to inject consistent new momentum to world peace and development," he said.
China-Vanuatu relations remain sound through respect, cooperation: Chinese ambassador
Visiting boundary markers seems to have become a new trend in holiday-making on frontier regions in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province neighboring Russia so far in the week-long National Day holiday that started on October 1.
At the border gateways and boundary monuments on the 2,981-kilometer frontier in Heilongjiang, tourists from all over the country are seen stopping to have photos taken with the boundary monuments or markers, with some listening to stories told by frontier police officers about past events associated with the frontier regions.
In China, the National Day holiday is a peak travel and tourism season.
Lying in the easternmost point of China is the Wusu Town Dongji Square in Fuyuan City of Heilongjiang Province. Next to the huge sculpture bearing the Chinese character of "East" in the square, the five-star Chinese national flag is fluttering in the wind. Just beside the national flag is a boundary monument, which has become an attraction to visitors.
Many of the visitors say that having a picture taken with the boundary monument on the occasion of the National Day holiday would make them feel honored about happy powerful their motherland is.
Li Xin, a police officer with the Wusu Town Border Police Station on duty at the Dongji Square, said he has felt the enthusiasm of visitors.
Li said that the number of tourists visiting the Doingji Square so far in the National Day holiday has doubled compared to the same period of last year.
In Mohe, the northernmost city in China which is more than 2,000 kilometers away from Dongji, visitors are also seen flocking to the Beiji (North Pole) Village to have pictures taken with the local boundary marker.
Zhang Jiale, a police officer with the Arctic Border Police Station in Mohe, expressed the same feeling as Li Xin.
In Suifenhe, another frontier city in Heilongjiang, tourists also seen enthusiastically flocking to the boundary monument beside the third-generation border gateway to have pictures taken with it. The Suifenhe Gateway Scenic Spot is located at the zero point of Suifenhe Highway Port G10 Suiman Expressway, the largest land port to Russia in Heilongjiang Province. It is the only longitudinal cross-border scenic spot in China and the only one that integrates three generations of border gateways in China's gateway scenic spots.
In this scenic spot, tourists frequently ask Wang Jiaxing, a police officer with the Suifenhe Entry-Exit Border Checkpoint on duty, to help take photos or ask about how to make a tourist travel to the neighboring country.
Ke Zunlei, a tourist from Shanghai, visited the site with his wife and young daughter.
"Standing at a frontier region of my own country, I feel that this place is quite sacred," Ke said.
In Hutou Township of Jixi City in the province, the boundary marker "292-1-2014," which marks the starting point of the Wusuli River between China and Russia, also attracts many visitors to make a visit and take photos.
Visiting boundary markers becomes new trend in China's National Day holiday travel
