Photo: China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian

China will continue to make active efforts to facilitate reconciliation and ease tensions between the two sides, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday. China hopes that both sides will remain calm and exercise restraint, engage face to face as soon as possible, achieve a ceasefire at the earliest opportunity, and resolve differences and disputes through dialogue, he added. 

Lin made the remarks when asked to provide more details on a phone call between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi last Friday, and on a previous statement of Foreign Ministry that China's special envoy on Afghan Affairs was conducting shuttle diplomacy between Afghanistan and Pakistan which have recently been engaged in military conflict.

Lin said that Afghanistan and Pakistan are and will always be each other's neighbors. Issues between the two countries can only be resolved through dialogue and consultation. The pressing priority is to prevent the escalation of the conflict and return to the negotiating table at an early date.

China has been mediating between the two sides via its own channels. Over the past few days, Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke on the phone respectively with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi. The Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has been shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan to mediate. Chinese embassies in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been in close communication with the two sides. Both countries have expressed appreciation for China's active mediation efforts, Lin noted.

From March 7 to 14, Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yue Xiaoyong visited both Afghanistan and Pakistan, conducting shuttle diplomacy over the recent tensions. In Afghanistan, he met separately with Muttaqi and Afghanistan's Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi. In Pakistan, he held talks with Pakistan's foreign secretary Amna Baloch and Mohammad Sadiq, Islamabad's special envoy for Afghanistan, urging both sides to remain calm, reach a ceasefire as soon as possible, and resolve differences through dialogue.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan expressed appreciation for China's mediation efforts and said they are willing to address the issue through political and diplomatic channels.

Earlier on March 13, Wang held a phone conversation with Muttaqi at the latter's request, where Wang noted that the more turbulent the external environment becomes, the more regional countries should strengthen unity and cooperation to overcome difficulties together, forging a path of cooperative and common security. Any issues between the two countries can only be resolved through dialogue and consultation. The use of force will only complicate the situation, exacerbate contradictions, benefit neither side, and threaten regional peace and stability. Wang added that China stands ready to continue making active efforts to facilitate reconciliation and ease tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.



Global Times