BEIJING - State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday pledged China's efforts to continue to resolutely safeguard China's core interests, and work with most countries in the world to defend fairness and justice.

Wang made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group on the international situation and China's diplomacy in 2021.

Noting the year 2022 as the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar, Wang said China is ready to work in solidarity with the international community to "bring dynamism to world peace and development with 'the vitality of the tiger' and promote greater progress and 'a tiger's leap' in human development."

DEFEND FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE

"On the new journey toward national rejuvenation, we will continue to firmly oppose all hegemonic and bullying practices and proactively undertake our international responsibility for world peace and development," Wang said.

The year of 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. Reviewing the past achievements, Wang said China's diplomacy keeps a fine tradition of safeguarding national interests and upholding fairness and justice.

He pointed out some elements in the world still deem themselves superior, and use high-sounding excuses to smear and contain China and many other developing countries. "We must not compromise or back down. Instead, we must face them head on, and pull together with most countries to defend fairness and justice and do the right thing for humanity," Wang said.

Commenting on negative moves on China made by the United States over the past year, Wang said the U.S. saying one thing yet doing another has left its credibility in serious doubt.

Wang went on to point out as long as the U.S. gives up its obsession with suppressing and containing China, relations between the two countries could return to the right track.

"As long as the U.S. gives up its obsession with ideological confrontation, the two systems and paths adopted by China and the U.S. could work in parallel and coexist peacefully on this planet," he added.

IMPLEMENT A WIN-WIN STRATEGY OF OPENING-UP

Looking ahead to China's diplomacy in 2022, Wang noted China will safeguard the stable and smooth functioning of global industrial and supply chains, implement well the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and work to advance China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

China has implemented a win-win strategy of opening-up, Wang said. "Twenty years after joining the World Trade Organization, China has done more than its commitments on tariff reduction and market access."

Noting next year China will celebrate important anniversaries of its diplomatic relations with a number of countries, Wang stressed China will take them as the opportunity to consolidate traditional friendship and expand cooperation bilaterally.

As China and Russia are both major countries with global influence, Wang said the leaders of the two countries have stayed in close strategic communication throughout the year. Guided by the two heads of state, China-Russia relations have become more mature, stable, resilient and vibrant.

"We are convinced that as long as China and Russia stand together shoulder to shoulder and deepen coordination hand in hand, the international order will not fall into disarray, justice in the world will not collapse, and hegemonism will not win," Wang said.

On China-EU relations, he said China stands ready to have closer engagement and communication and earnestly enhance mutual understanding between China and Europe, including open, candid dialogue on such topics as human rights and democracy.

While reaffirming China's role as "a staunch member of the developing world," Wang pledged China's efforts in the future to increase trade and investment, and strengthen exchanges with other developing countries in the fields of poverty reduction and development, among others.

REUNIFICATION IS UNSTOPPABLE TREND

Concerning the prospects of diplomatic contests regarding Taiwan, Wang said the reunification of China is an unstoppable trend.

Recently, Nicaragua resumed diplomatic relations with China and returned to the right track of the one-China principle, and China has gained a new friend in the world, Wang noted. "This fully proves that the one-China principle is a universally recognized principle and represents people's aspiration and the trend of the world."

The U.S. has gone back on its commitment made when it established diplomatic relations with China, condoned and abetted "Taiwan independence" forces, and tried to distort and hollow out the one-China principle, Wang said. "This will put Taiwan into an extremely precarious situation and bring an unbearable cost to the U.S. itself."

Attempts to seek "Taiwan independence" will inevitably end up in failure, and there is no other way out for Taiwan than to reunify with the mainland, Wang said. "This is an inexorable trend of history and the only practical and logical outcome."

CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL GOVERNANCE REFORM

With mutating COVID virus posing threat to life in all countries as well as twists and turns in economic recovery compounded by the resurgence of unilateralism, the world is in urgent need of cooperation out of difficulties.

With regard to China's role in global responses to COVID-19, Wang said as of December 26, China has provided more than two billion doses of COVID vaccines to over 120 countries and international organizations, thus becoming the biggest provider of outbound vaccines among all countries. "We support Chinese companies in transferring technologies to developing countries, and have launched joint vaccine production with 20 countries."

"China did not do any of this for selfish geopolitical interest, and China did not attach any political strings to these actions at all. Rather, we are taking concrete actions to help build a great wall of immunization for the health of all," Wang added.

To facilitate more balanced and sustainable post-pandemic global development, China has put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which has won the endorsement and support of multiple international organizations including the United Nations agencies and nearly 100 countries.

To deliver on this major initiative, Wang pledged China's efforts to further synergize development cooperation strategies with other parties, and actively deliver the commitment to provide an additional three billion U.S. dollars of international assistance in the next three years.

In 2022, "Asia's time" will come in global governance, Wang said, as the BRICS summit will be held in China, and the APEC economic leaders' meeting and the summits of G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in other Asian countries.

"China will continue to hold high the banner of true multilateralism, and contribute more Chinese wisdom and Asian energy to the reform and improvement of the global governance system," said Wang.