Visiting Tonga tomorrow, 31 May and 1 June, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Mr Wang Yi will sign cooperation documents on disaster prevention and mitigation, people's livelihoods and other matters, the Chinese Embassy in Tonga announced today.

Full details of the Minister’s programme have not been released.

Today in Suva, on a virtual meeting, he is talking to his counterparts from 10 Pacific Island countries, which recognise China, including Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Niue and Federated States of Micronesia .

Mr Wang began the tour by visiting Solomon Islands on 26 May 2022, where he stressed that China will pursue further developing relations with PICs and expanding cooperation.

In a statement today the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Tonga, H.E. Cao Xiaolin, said that in developing a comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher lever: “The PICs region should be a stage for cooperation, rather than an arena for vicious competition. China's cooperation with PICs doesn't target any country, nor will it be disrupted by any country.

However, he said that “China respects the various ties that PICs have established with other countries, and are open-minded about carrying out more tripartite cooperation with other countries inside and outside the region.”

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1998, China and Tonga have maintained frequent high-level exchanges and increased cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The ambassador said that Tonga has been an important partner of the "Belt and Road" initiative.

China has offered government scholarships to around 300 Tongan students, and provided various training programs to nearly 1,200 Tongan government officials and people. The Ministry of Education of China and Liaocheng University have sent 16 teachers to Tonga to teach Chinese language and agricultural practice courses over the past years.

In the Pacific islands, China earlier announced that it plans to hold intermediate and high-level police training for PICs through bilateral and multilateral means.