Chinese foreign minister holds phone talks with Pakistani counterpart

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday evening.

Dar briefed Wang on the first-phase memorandum of understanding (MoU) recently reached between Iran and the United States. The Pakistani foreign minister thanked China for maintaining close communication with Pakistan over the past several months and for providing valuable support to Pakistan's mediation efforts.

Dar said Pakistan looks forward to continuing coordination with China to sustain the current momentum of peace talks and jointly play a constructive role in promoting lasting peace and stability in the region.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, congratulated Pakistan on facilitating the first-phase MoU between Iran and the US. He stressed that striving for peace is an international responsibility shared by all countries, including China and Pakistan.

As long as there remains hope for peace, efforts toward that goal are worthwhile, Wang said.

Since the outbreak of the conflict, China has maintained communication with all relevant parties and actively worked to promote a ceasefire and advance dialogue, Wang said. He noted that China had supported Pakistan's mediation efforts from the outset, emphasizing to all sides that Pakistan is a trustworthy mediator, while also engaging separately with both Iran and the US through its own diplomatic channels.

Wang also said the current consensus reached by the two sides is far from the end of the process but rather a new starting point, adding that achieving lasting peace in the Gulf and the broader Middle East will require sustained efforts from all parties.

The top Chinese diplomat pointed out that negotiations in the next stage are likely to be more difficult than those leading to the first-phase MoU. However, he stressed that the process must not be reversed and that parties should not resort to the use of force again.

The international community should provide greater support for Iran-US negotiations, while multilateral institutions such as the United Nations Security Council should play a more active role, Wang said.

China has consistently maintained that countries in the region should take their future into their own hands, he said, expressing hope that dialogue and consultation could help explore a regional peace and security framework involving all countries in the region.

Now that the door to peace has been opened, it should not be closed again, Wang said, stressing that the Middle East has suffered from conflict for too long and that its people deserve peace.

China stands ready to work with Pakistan to continue encouraging peace and facilitating dialogue and to contribute to the early restoration of peace, stability and development in the Middle East, he added.