Chinese Premier Li Qiang held talks with visiting Prime Minister of Grenada Dickon Mitchell in Beijing on Monday, and both sides agreed to expand mutual beneficial cooperation.
Li said that since China and Grenada restored diplomatic relations 20 years ago, the two countries have treated each other with mutual respect and on an equal footing, maintained close high-level exchanges, and continuously expanded practical cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries.
President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Mitchell earlier on Monday, drawing a new blueprint for deepening and developing China-Grenada relations in the next stage, Li said.
He said China is willing to work with Grenada to maintain good momentum of bilateral relations, consolidate political mutual trust, firmly support each other on issues involving their respective core interests and major concerns, continue to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and promote bilateral relations to a new level.
China stands ready to strengthen the synergy of development strategies with Grenada, pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, deepen cooperation in traditional areas of agriculture, infrastructure, and health care, while actively seeking to create more cooperation highlights in emerging fields of new energy, digital economy, and blue economy, said the Chinese premier.
Noting the two sides should continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in tourism, culture, education, media and other fields, Li said China is willing to help Grenada and other Caribbean countries build capacity to cope with climate change.
China is willing to work with Grenada to strive for solid progress in building a China-Latin America community with a shared future, jointly defend the interests of the Global South, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Li said. Mitchell said Grenada highly appreciates China's adherence to the principle of mutual respect and equality in handling state-to-state relations, and will continue to abide by the one-China principle.
Grenada supports the three major global initiatives proposed by President Xi and is willing to learn from China's experience in state governance, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and multilateral coordination with China in economy, trade, culture, and climate change, and promote the sustained and in-depth growth of bilateral relations, he said. After the talks, the two government leaders jointly witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation documents in Belt and Road cooperation, economy, trade, and green development.
Prior to their talks, Li held a welcome ceremony for Mitchell at the Great Hall of the People.
Mitchell arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a seven-day official visit to China.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Chinese premier, Grenadian PM hold talks in Beijing
The international community on Thursday continued to lash out at Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir for releasing a video which mocks the participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
On Thursday local time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that all foreign activists who had recently participated in the flotilla had been expelled from the country, and that Israel would not tolerate any violations of the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of members from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla were brought to Israel's Ashdod Port on Wednesday, as Ben-Gvir released the video showing some of them shackled and forced to the ground.
In the video, released by Ben-Gvir on his social media channels, dozens of activists are shown kneeling on the floor, bent forward with their heads down and hands bound behind their backs with zip ties, as the Israeli national anthem is played loudly over speakers.
Organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli naval vessels intercepted all ships in the convoy in international waters, about 250 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. According to the organizers, 428 activists were "kidnapped" by Israel after the interception began on Monday morning.
On Thursday, the British government issued a statement saying that the Britain had summoned the charge d'affaires of the Israeli Embassy that day to express strong denunciation of the video released by Ben-Gvir on Wednesday.
Britain accused the relevant actions of violating the most basic principles of respect for human dignity and demanded that the Israeli government provide an explanation regarding the detention.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani on Thursday said on social media that he had requested the European Union (EU) to impose sanctions on Ben-Gvir.
Tajani said that the Israeli side detained activists in international waters and subjected them to harassment and humiliation, describing such actions as "unacceptable" and "a violation of the most basic human rights."
On the same day, the Polish foreign affairs ministry issued a statement saying that Poland had summoned the charge d'affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Poland, demanding that Israel launch an investigation into the detention and issue an official apology to the detained activists.
Earlier that day, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski decided to seek a ban on Ben-Gvir's entry into Poland.
On Thursday, Polish Minister of Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwinski also said that he had ordered the initiation of formal procedures to designate Ben-Gvir as a persona non grata.
Additionally, on Thursday, Danilo Della Valle, a member of the European Parliament, said that he had written to European Council President Antonio Costa, calling on the EU to impose sanctions on Ben-Gvir. The letter was co-signed by nearly 30 members of the European Parliament.
Int'l community continues to slam Israel for maltreating Gaza aid flotilla members
