Turkish president praises frequent high-level contacts with China

In his meeting with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang in Istanbul, Erdogan spoke of his last talks with President Xi Jinping in early September on the sidelines of the G20 summit in eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, in which the Turkish leader said an important understanding was reached with Xi and a strategic planning was mapped out for the development of Turkey-China relations.

The Turkish leader also referred to Wang's meeting with Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek in Ankara a day earlier, when the two co-chaired the first meeting of a governmental cooperation committee mechanism of deputy prime ministerial level between their countries.

Noting that Turkey and China had agreed to deepen cooperation on security and counterterrorism, Erdogan pledged more efforts to address properly Beijing's concerns in this regard.

He voiced hope for boosted cooperation on tourism, investment and mega projects to promote bilateral trade in a balanced way, as Turkey and China boast huge potential for economic and trade cooperation.

He also pledged support for the Belt and Road Initiative, expressing readiness to join hands with China to revive the ancient Silk Road.

For his part, Wang noted that it is the common interest of both countries to deepen a strategic bilateral relationship, as both China and Turkey are key emerging economies and G20 members.

Wang said he visited Turkey with a view to implementing the understanding reached between Xi and Erdogan during their three meetings since last year, part of which is the agreement on a governmental cooperation committee mechanism of deputy prime ministerial level.

During the first meeting under the mechanism, Wang and Simsek coordinated the issues of advancing cooperation on politics, economy and trade, security and culture, as well as of addressing each other's key concerns, the Chinese vice premier told Erdogan.

Wang said the Chinese side has always treated its relations with Turkey from a strategic height, ready to build a solid foundation for political mutual trust, intensify cooperation on security and counterterrorism, work hard toward a balanced trade, promote the harmonization of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Middle Corridor plan on the Turkish side and push for a breakthrough in cooperation on big projects to the benefit of both peoples.

In his meeting with Wang in Ankara a day earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed his understanding of China's concern about the security issue, saying Turkey will not tolerate the separatists trying to split China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

As Turkey and China had agreed on a high-speed rail linking Kars in Turkey's east with the western Turkish city of Edirne, Yildirim voiced hope for joint efforts to advance the project.