Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on September 26, 2019

Q: Yesterday the United States sanctioned several Chinese oil companies and individuals for allegedly transporting Iranian oil. Do you have any comment on that? Will the Chinese government stop Chinese companies from transporting Iranian oil?

A: China expresses strong indignation and firm opposition to US sanctions on Chinese businesses and individuals. China firmly opposes the US imposition of unilateral sanctions and so-called "long-arm jurisdiction" and its wanton bullying and oppression of Chinese enterprises.

China has stressed many times that the normal energy cooperation between Iran and the international community, including China, under the framework of international law is lawful and justifiable, and thus should be respected and protected. In disregard of the legitimate rights and interests of all parties, the US has been wantonly wielding the stick of sanctions. That grossly tramples on basic norms governing international relations and is unpopular and contrary to the trend of the times. We strongly urge the US to immediately correct its wrongdoing. China has taken and will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard the legal rights and interests of its businesses.

Q: According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian intelligence agency identified China and Russia among the countries seeking to exploit universities' "culture of openness" to acquire knowledge and technology. It also said that China's espionage activities represent the most significant and clear challenge to Canada's universities. What's your response?

A: This is an entirely fictitious allegation with ulterior motives. I shall stress that in the 21st century, it is impossible to advance science and technology without international cooperation, and people-to-people exchange is an unstoppable trend of the times. The people-to-people exchange between China and Canada is conducive to enhancing understanding between the two peoples and serves the fundamental interests of the two countries.

With the current difficulties in bilateral relations, we urge the few individuals in Canada to abandon their Cold War mentality and ideological bias and do more to improve rather than damage bilateral relations.

Q: On September 23, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said in an interview that China has offered Pakistan a great opportunity to grow its economy and that there have been no so-called "tradeoffs" behind this economic cooperation. What's your comment?

A: China highly commends Prime Minister Imran Khan's positive remarks on China-Pakistan relations in the interview and totally agrees with that.

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners with mutual trust, mutual understanding and mutual support. The China-Pakistan friendship is unbreakable. Our relations enjoy sound momentum, as evidenced by frequent high-level exchanges and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation. The fruitful outcomes in the development of the CPEC have produced positive socioeconomic benefits and given a strong boost to the national development of Pakistan and improvement of people's lives. The friendly cooperation between China and Pakistan is in the common interests of our two countries and conducive to upholding international peace, stability, equity and justice. We stand ready to work with Pakistan to achieve new progress in our bilateral relations and forge a closer community with a shared future for a new era.

Q: Bulgarian economist Kristalina Gerorgieva, who was previously CEO of the World Bank, has been officially selected to be the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). What's your comment on that?

A: We would like to congratulate Ms. Georgieva on becoming the new managing director of the IMF. We have noticed that Ms. Georgieva, with rich experience working in international organizations, is the first IMF managing director from an emerging economy since the founding of the organization in 1944.

The IMF is an important institution in global economic governance. We look forward to seeing it play an important role under the leadership of the new managing director in maintaining world economic and financial stability, improving global economic governance, and supporting multilateralism and an open world economy. We hope it will further increase the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries. China stands ready to continue to strengthen its close cooperation with the IMF.

Q: First, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Relations Committee passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. What's your comment? Second, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations passed the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act, which proposes to reduce ties with countries that have severed or is considering severing "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan authorities. Do you have any comment? How do you view the timing of the passing of these two acts?

A: In the early hours of this morning, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Relations Committee passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The Chinese side has immediately made response to that, which is available on the website of the foreign ministry. Have you seen that? If necessary, I will repeat our response.

By passing the relevant act, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Relations Committee have blatantly backed the Hong Kong violent radicals up and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs. China expresses strong indignation and firm opposition to that.

Since Hong Kong's return, the policies of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong and a high degree of autonomy have been implemented, and Hong Kong residents' rights and freedoms have been fully safeguarded in accordance with law. However, recent developments over the past three months or so have veered off the normal track. With the instigation and indulgence of external forces and anti-China forces attempting to destabilize Hong Kong, radical forces and violent offenders in Hong Kong flagrantly disrupted social order, vandalized public facilities, attacked the police and left a trail of smashed or burned items all over the city. These behaviors have gone far beyond the scope of marches or assemblies. They trampled on the bottom line of morality, crossed the bottom line of rule of law, and challenged the bottom line of "one country, two systems". Ending violence and chaos and restoring order has become the widest consensus and the strongest appeal of all social sectors in Hong Kong. The Chinese central government firmly supports the SAR government in governing by law, supports the Hong Kong police in strict and just law enforcement, and supports the Hong Kong judicial organs in bringing violent criminals to justice according to law.

In disregard of the vile behavior of Hong Kong's radical and violent forces, the appeal from various sectors of the Hong Kong society, and the basic norms governing international relations, the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee insisted on reviewing and passing the above-mentioned Hong Kong-related bill and openly endorsed Hong Kong's radical and violent forces. Such behavior is a gross interference in China's domestic affairs, which fully reveals the ill intentions of some people in the United States to mess up Hong Kong and contain China's development.

It must be pointed out that Hong Kong's prosperity and stability are in the interests of all parties, including the United States. The United States has more than 80,000 citizens, over 1,300 companies and a large amount of investment in Hong Kong. The passing of the bill by the US Senate and the House Foreign Affairs Committees will only embolden Hong Kong's radical and violent forces, and further mess up Hong Kong. It will harm the interests of both China and the US. No one should underestimate China's firm resolve and determination to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests, to implement "one country, two systems", and to safeguard Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. Any attempt by the US to harm China's interests will be met with forceful fightback.

I stress again that China strongly urges certain people in the US Congress to grasp the situation, immediately stop advancing the bill regarding Hong Kong and interfering in Hong Kong's affairs to avoid further damaging China-US relations.

Regarding the passing of the TAIPEI Act by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, I would like to point out that the relevant act seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques and the international law and basic norms governing international relations, and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs. China firmly opposes it. The one-China principle is the popular trend of the times and the general consensus of the international community. There are 179 countries in the world that have established diplomatic relations with China. The United States has established diplomatic relations with China as early as 40 years ago. Now it is obstructing other sovereign countries' development of normal state-to-state relations with China. This is simply unreasonable and illogical.

We urge the US to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, immediately stop reviewing and pushing through the negative act on Taiwan, and prudentially and carefully handle the Taiwan-related issues so as not to damage China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.

As for the series of negative US moves you mentioned, you may want to read State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's speech at a dinner hosted by several American institutions on the evening of September 24. The speech expounded China's position and proposition on developing China-US relations, and I think you would like to read it carefully.

What I want to say here is that we hope the US will meet China halfway, jointly manage differences with mutual respect, and expand cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit to advance our relations featuring coordination, cooperation and stability.

Q: We noticed that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently had a signed article titled Composing a Splendid Symphony of Major Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics published by People's Daily, which has triggered hot discussions on China's foreign affairs. I wonder what do you think of that?

A: The signed article by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on People's Daily takes us through the extraordinary journey and tremendous progress in China's foreign affairs since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It has drawn much attention. My colleagues and I are all deeply moved and encouraged by the recognition and commendation of the progress in China's foreign affairs. We also feel that we have to work harder to live up to your expectations.

The past seven decades have seen China's diplomacy forging ahead with fruitful outcomes. We stand by independence and peaceful development, resolutely defend China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and never seek our development at the expense of other countries' interests. On the international stage, we stand for fairness, uphold equity and justice, and advocate multilateralism, liberalism, openness and win-win cooperation. We are committed to playing an active role in international affairs by contributing Chinese wisdom to reforming the global governance system, adding Chinese strength to mediating resolutions to international and regional hotspot issues, and injecting Chinese confidence into world economic growth. China is never absent, nor does it ever flinch from rendering assistance to other countries and fulfilling responsibilities of a major country.

During the past 70 years, China established diplomatic relations with many countries, bringing the number from 18 when it was first founded to 179 today. It has also formed 110 partnerships of various kinds. We are building more and stronger friendships. More and more Chinese proposals have become recognized as international consensus; more and more Chinese solutions have been implemented through international action. History has proven and will continue to prove that China's development is an opportunity for the world. China will, as always, contribute to world peace, promote global development and uphold international order.

Standing at a new historical starting point as we mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, China's diplomacy will continue to follow the path of peaceful development, forge global partnerships, pursue high-quality BRI cooperation, take an active part in reforming the global governance system and integrate its development with that of the world. We stand ready to continue joint efforts with various sides to uphold the UN-centered international institutions and the global order based on international law, safeguard world peace, stability, development and prosperity, and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Q: According to the Czech cyber and information security agency, China was the cause of a major computer attack against a key government institution last year. Do you have any comment on that?

A: China consistently opposes all forms of cyber attacks. We always hold that the international community should jointly uphold cyber security through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.