In the run-up to his official visit to the State of Mongolia, State Councilor Dai Bingguo gave a written interview to Mongolian media organizations on 23 August. The following is the text of the interview.

Question 1: You are about to visit Mongolia shortly after the country's new parliament and government were formed. What are your expectations of the visit and the future of Mongolia-China relations?

Answer: The State of Mongolia held a successful parliamentary election and formed a new parliament and government. It is indeed "double happiness". As a friendly neighbor and important partner, China congratulates Mongolia and wishes the Mongolian people greater achievements in every aspect of their national development under the leadership of the new parliament and government.

China respects the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State of Mongolia and the Mongolian people's independent choice of development path. Consolidating and developing good-neighborly relations with Mongolia is a consistent strategic policy of the Chinese government and serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples. The China-Mongolia relationship is now at its best period of development. Since the two countries established strategic partnership last year, bilateral relations have grown rapidly and entered a new phase of development as evidenced by frequent high-level visits and deepened exchanges and cooperation in political, economic, people-to-people and cultural fields. I am convinced that China-Mongolia relations have a solid foundation, huge potential and bright prospects.

I look forward to establishing contacts and deepening understanding with the new government of Mongolia and exchanging views with my Mongolian hosts on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest with a view to promoting sustained, sound and steady growth of the relations between our two countries.

Question 2: China makes five-year plans for its economic development and adopted the Twelfth Five-Year Plan last year. What are China's priority areas of cooperation with its neighbors, Mongolia included, so as to implement the plan?

Answer: During the Twelfth Five-Year-Plan period, China will focus on accelerating the shift of growth model, deepening reform and opening-up, improving people's wellbeing, and advancing the building of a well-off society in an all-round way. In this process, we will continue with the policy of fostering good-neighborliness and friendship with our neighbors and the win-win strategy of opening-up, and work with the neighboring countries to maintain a peaceful and secure regional environment. While working to raise China's level of opening-up and improve our foreign trade mix in general, we will scale up trade and investment cooperation, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in energy and resources, accelerate opening-up programs in the border areas and promote infrastructure connectivity with our neighbors. We will take an active part in global economic governance and regional cooperation, oppose trade protectionism in all its manifestations, speed up China's FTA strategy, vigorously step up regional economic cooperation and increase economic assistance to other developing countries.

Neighbors wish each other well. China's development relies on and at the same time lends strong impetus to the development of its neighboring countries. China and Mongolia enjoy geographical proximity, close cultural bond and economic complementarity. All this promises exceptional advantages and enormous potential for bilateral exchanges and cooperation. The implementation of China's Twelfth Five-Year Plan offers good opportunities and ample room for cooperation with Mongolia. China would like to discuss with Mongolia new areas and ways of cooperation in a result-oriented and open attitude so that we can make full use of the opportunities to intensify mutually beneficial cooperation in deep processing of mineral and energy products, infrastructure connectivity, prevention and treatment of desertification and clean energy development, and realize common development.

Question 3: China follows the policy of fostering partnership and friendship with its neighbors featuring equality, mutual benefit and common development. What difference has this policy made and are there any difficulties in implementing this policy?

Answer: China is firmly committed to peaceful development. This is a strategy born of and guiding our relations with neighbors and benefiting all in this region. China unswervingly follows the policy of fostering friendship and partnership with its neighbors and commits itself to working with neighboring countries to build a harmonious region enjoying peace, security, win-win cooperation and common prosperity.

China's relations with its neighors have developed well. There have been increasingly frequent high-level exchanges and mutual visits between China and almost all its neighbors. China and its neighboring countries have enhanced political trust, and supported and collaborated with each other on many important issues. Economic interests are more intertwined, with China becoming the top trading partner of its neighbors. People-to-people and cultural exchanges have expanded and led to a deepening of mutual understanding and friendship. Despite the still acute underlying impact of the international financial crisis and weak recovery of the world economy, the Asia-Pacific region enjoys relative stability, rapid development and good prospects. It has become an important driving force of world economic recovery and growth. Clearly, China's policy of goodneighborliness and friendship meets the common aspiration of the people in the region for peace, cooperation and development and makes an important contribution to peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.

Countries in this region differ in national condition and development stage. It is natural that there are some differences and disagreements between them. China and some of its neighbors have disputes over territory and maritime rights and interests. China maintains that international disputes should be resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation. When it involves our neighbors, we uphold this principle all the more steadfastly, always bearing in mind the larger interest of regional peace and stability and seeking proper settlement acceptable to all. We will stick to this position no matter how the situation may evolve in the future. We hope that the relevant countries will act in the same spirit. We believe that countries in the region have the wisdom and ability to resolve relevant issues on their own, meet challenges together and jointly build a brighter future for the region.

Question 4: China's huge market offers good opportunities for the development of Mongolia. This is proved by the fact that the bulk of Mongolian exports go to China. But raw materials and unprocessed minerals account for the majority of such exports. What is the prospect of mutually beneficial cooperation with China in Mongolia-based high value-added production?

Answer: China and Mongolia, both being developing countries and at important stages of development, are an opportunity for each other's development. China would like to forge business ties with Mongolia under the principle of equality, win-win cooperation and common development. We hope that our two countries will, in light of our respective national conditions, combine each other's strengths and increase the depth and breadth of our cooperation.

Mongolia has, by following the strategy of reinvigorating the country through mining, and a development path that suits its national conditions, realized rapid economic development in recent years. China is expected to maintain steady and robust economic growth. Our two countries are sure to find more converging interests, and deepen and expand our practical cooperation.

Against the backdrop of deepening economic globalization and accelerating international division of labor and industrial relocation, upgrading industrial structure is a natural choice for Mongolia just as for China and every other developing country. We actively support and participate in Mongolia's strategy of reinvigorating the country through mining, support Mongolia's endeavor to deep-process mineral products and extend industrial chain. We stand ready to enhance cooperation with Mongolia in this field to help you speed up industrial upgrading and make our bilateral cooperation more fruitful to the benefit of both sides.

Question 5: How does China see its cooperation with Mongolia in international and regional affairs?

Answer: Mongolia is an important member of the United Nations and an influential country in the region. Mongolia is committed to upholding regional and world peace and development. It has played a positive role in the settlement of regional hotspot issues and done a lot of work on such major issues as climate change. China appreciates the good work Mongolia has done.

On many major international and regional issues, China and Mongolia have the same or similar positions and propositions, and have had effective consultation and coordination in the UN. Mongolia is the first observer state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and has had close cooperation with China within this organization. Our two countries have also made much progress in our cooperation under such regional or sub-regional frameworks as Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEAN Regional Forum, Altai regional cooperation and Tumen River Area Development Program.

The world is undergoing complex and profound changes. China and Mongolia, both being developing countries, have broad common interests and responsibilities in international and regional affairs. China will continue to enhance communication, coordination and cooperation with Mongolia in international and regional affairs for the in-depth growth of China-Mongolia strategic partnership and the building of a harmonious region of durable peace and common prosperity.