TASS: According to reports, the US and Viet Nam are in negotiation about the provision of large amounts of weaponry. The arms sale includes F-16 fighter jets. What’s your comment?

Wang Wenbin: Asian countries share a desire for stability, cooperation and development. We hope that when advancing bilateral relations and conducting military cooperation, relevant countries will observe basic norms governing international relations, abandon hegemonic and Cold War mentalities, refrain from stoking confrontation and spurring arms race, and not jeopardize regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.

CCTV: According to reports, the emergency humanitarian assistance provided by the Chinese government has reached Libya. Could you offer more information?

Wang Wenbin: The people of China and Libya share a profound and long-standing friendship. After eastern Libya was hit by a deadly hurricane, China actively provided support for its relief efforts. On September 24, the disaster-relief supplies provided by the Chinese government reached the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi and were smoothly handed over to the Libyan side. The supplies include tents, blankets, first-aid kits, water purification equipment, diagnostic ultrasound systems, among others. China stands ready to work with the international community to continue supporting the Libyan people in overcoming the disaster and rebuilding their homes at an early date. 

China Daily: The World Intellectual Property Organization recently issued the Science and Technology (S&T) Cluster ranking of the Global Innovation Index. Three out of the world’s five biggest S&T clusters are in China—namely, Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai-Suzhou. Also, China has 24 of the top 100 S&T clusters worldwide—outnumbering all other countries for the first time. Do you have any comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: We noted the WIPO report. Since the Global Innovation Index was launched in 2007, China has appeared more and more often on those charts, an indication of China’s continued progress in innovation-driven development. The National Bureau of Statistics of China recently released a report showing that China’s innovation-driven index in 2022 was 336.3, up by 15.5 percent over the previous year; and China’s total funding for research and development exceeded RMB 3 trillion for the first time, ranking the second in the world. As WIPO Director General Daren Tang noted, China has become an important contributor to global intellectual property work and successfully transformed itself into one of the world’s leading innovation, creativity and S&T hubs.

You mentioned that some Chinese cities are among the world’s five biggest S&T clusters. This testifies to the success of China’s measures to encourage relevant regions to leverage their strength as reservoirs of innovation factors and increase their ability to innovate and boost economic growth.

Innovation hinges on cooperation, openness and sharing. As President Xi Jinping stressed, China will stay committed to the win-win strategy of opening-up, keep advancing high-level opening-up, promote international exchange and cooperation on science and technology with greater openness, foster an open innovation ecosystem with global competitiveness and work with other countries to create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological advancement.

ZDF: About the commerce dialogue with the European Union today, what is China’s position on the question of the announced anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric vehicles imports, which Ursula von der Leyen mentioned some days ago?

Wang Wenbin: About the specifics of the tenth high-level economic and trade dialogue between China and the EU, I would refer you to the competent authorities.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has responded to the EU’s announced anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles.

I would like to stress that China opposes all forms of trade protectionism. The action that the EU plans to take will disrupt the stability of global auto industrial and supply chains and will not serve anyone’s interests. China urges the EU to bear in mind the importance of the stability of global industrial and supply chains and the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, engage in dialogue and consultation with China, work with China to create a fair, non-discriminatory and predictable market environment for Chinese and European electric vehicle industries and jointly oppose trade protectionism.

Bloomberg: There’s a ministry of foreign affairs working level meeting being held this week in Seoul between the Chinese, Japanese and the South Koreans, which I assume is a prelude to the trilateral meeting which is hopefully planned for later this year. What is China looking to achieve at this meeting? What do you hope the outcomes will be?

Wang Wenbin: China, Japan and the ROK are neighbors and important cooperation partners. Closer trilateral cooperation serves the common interests of all three parties. China values the trilateral cooperation mechanism and actively supports the ROK’s chairmanship. According to my knowledge, the three parties are in contact about the high-level meetings of the trilateral cooperation.

NHK: The Philippine government issued a statement earlier today condemning China’s measures around Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea. What is your response?

Wang Wenbin: Huangyan Dao has always been China’s territory. China has indisputable sovereignty over the island and its adjacent waters and sovereign rights and jurisdiction over relevant waters. On September 22, a vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Philippines, without China’s permission, intruded into the adjacent waters of Huangyan Dao and attempted to enter its lagoon. China Coast Guard did what was necessary to block and drive away the Philippine vessel. The steps it took were professional and restrained.

CCTV: China’s Ministry of State Security released an article on September 20, which exposed the methods of US intelligence agencies to engage in cyber attack and espionage. The article also revealed that the US government started infiltrating Huawei headquarters’ servers in 2009 and has been monitoring them ever since. What’s China’s comment?