On September 21, 2007, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who headed a Chinese delegation for the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, met with the head of the China Press of the United States and accepted his exclusive interview at the premise of the Permanent Mission of China to the UN. The full text of the interview is as follows:

China Press: With the increase of China's power and influence, the international community holds high expectations for China to further play crucial roles in addressing hotspot issues, such as the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the Darfur issue, and climate change. How is China going to respond to such situation and expectations?

FM Yang: Countries, big or small, poor or rich, all have responsibilities for world peace and development. China did grow fast in recent years and make certain achievements in our economic and social development. However, China is still a developing nation, with imbalanced development between regions and between urban and rural areas. The lives of the residents haven't reached a well-off standard. China remained heavily tasked with building a well-off society and a socialist harmonious society in an all-round manner. While focusing upon our own development, we have never forgotten our international duties and obligations. Any people without biased opinions would acknowledge that China has played a responsible role in the international community, which reflected in our concrete actions.

China strictly abides by the UN Charter and universally-acknowledged norms governing international relations to safeguard our own interest and in the meantime respect the interest of other countries. China advocates resolving disputes and differences by peaceful means, and addressing common challenges through consultations and cooperation. China played positive and constructive roles in helping address regional and international hotspot issues. China pursues a defensive national defence policy and constantly carries out military exchanges. China increased the military transparency and actively participated in international cooperation in the security front, such as anti-terrorism, anti-proliferation and UN peacekeeping operations. China is committed to expanding domestic demands and strives to strike a balance in import and export trade. China took substantial measures to protect intellectual property rights and continued to improve the managed floating exchange rate policy. China will promote the opening of the financial sector in an active yet steady manner. These measures contributed not only to the economic growth of China but also to the stability of world economy. China earnestly implemented the UN Millennium Development Goals. As of January 2007, China implemented over 2,000 assistance projects in over 120 countries and regions. China is fully aware of the severity and urgency of climate change. In a spirit of being accountable for the entire mankind, China adopted many effective measures to tackle climate change. China sticks to the path of sustainable development and is willing to strengthen cooperation with countries in the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and contribute duly to tackling climate change.

China has a clear understanding of China's responsibilities to the world, which we will never shy away from, yet it is unrealistic to require China to undertake responsibilities that are beyond China's national conditions and power.

China Press: Some organizations linked the Darfur issue, the Tibet issue and the so-called human right issue with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and threatened to boycott the Games. Minister Yang, what's your view on that?

FM Yang: The Olympic Games is a pageant of the world. The Chinese people are willing to do our part to carry forward the Olympic spirit, and promote exchange and friendship between the people in the world. It is the wish of the Chinese people to hold a high-level Olympic Games with distinguishing features, which is also commonly aspired by the athletes and people in the world. The Chinese government and people will earnestly fulfil our commitments made in the bid process and we have made tremendous efforts to this goal. The preparatory work, from venue construction to related services, is moving forward as scheduled.

Since the reform and opening up nearly three decades ago, China has made great achievements. The economy grew rapidly. The society was kept stable. Important headways were made in the building of democracy and legal systems. With respect to this, the 1.3 billion Chinese people have the most say. In the process of development, we welcome the good-will and constructive criticisms and suggestions, but sternly oppose the acts of some organizations and individuals who turned a blind eye to the facts and tried to interfere in China's internal affairs, infringe China's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and disturb the Olympic Games by taking advantage of the so-called human rights issue and the Tibet issue.

China adheres to the path of peaceful development, advocates the building of a harmonious world, and carries out friendly cooperation with countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefits. China actively participated in resolving international and regional issues including the Darfur issue in an accountable and constructive attitude, which won wide understanding and support from the international community. The Chinese people are willing to strengthen communications and exchanges with the people in other parts of the world and increase our mutual understanding. We warmly welcome the athletes to take part in the matches in Beijing and the people from all over the world to visit Beijing during the Games.

China Press: The food and goods exported from China became a hot topic of the media in the U.S. lately, reflecting that the relationship between China and the U.S. is getting closer and increasingly complex. Could you share with us your comments on China-U.S. relations? What are the biggest differences? What are the biggest common interests?

FM Yang: The China-U.S. relationship is growing steadily in general. There were frequent exchanges at high and other levels. The Important consensus reached by President Hu Jintao and President George Bush with regard to the comprehensive promotion of a constructive partnership in the 21st century is being gradually implemented. Positive results were achieved during their meeting in early June, in Heiligendamm, Germany. Not long ago, the two heads of state met in Sydney, pointing out the direction where China-U.S. relations should go and injecting new vitalities to China-U.S. relations.

China and the United States, as two big countries with significant influence in the world, share common interest and shoulder common responsibilities in safeguarding world peace and promoting global development. Whether in traditional fronts such as politics, economy and security, or on the issues with global nature, such as anti-terrorism, anti-proliferation, environmental protection, climate change, disaster resistance and relief, prevention of communicable diseases, things cannot be done without the cooperation between China and U.S.

Due to differences in national conditions, history, culture and ideology, it is inevitable that China and the Unites states will have different views on some issues, yet the extensive and significant common interest between the two countries is paramount to other things. The mainstream of bilateral ties is always dialogue, exchange and cooperation. Both sides should properly handle problems that occurred through dialogues on an equal footing and friendly consultations as being stakeholders and constructive partners. We shouldn't risk big things for the sake of small ones. We shouldn't let small things affect the big scenario of China-U.S. relations.

Maintaining the steady growth of China-U.S. relations conforms to the interest of both countries and benefits the peace, stability and development of the world. We are willing to work with the U.S. to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen dialogues, mutual trust and cooperation, respect and take care of each other's concerns, and properly handle differences and sensitive issues so as to ensure the healthy and stable growth of constructive partnership and benefit the people in the two countries as well as the world.

China Press: Though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon rejected Chen Shui-bian's letters seeking the UN membership under the name of Taiwan, the Taiwan authority and some political parties are still attempting to promote a "referendum on joining the UN. They will surely keep making such attempts. What is the position of China on this? What countermeasures does China have? Is the mainland of China views the referendum as de jure independence of Taiwan? How dangerous is it?

FM Yang: The Taiwan authority is currently promoting a referendum on joining the UN under the name of Taiwan for sake of splitting Taiwan from China and out of the political needs in Taiwan. This is another serious step taken by the Chen Shui-bian authority toward de jure independence of Taiwan. If we do not hold it back, it will severely infringe China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and seriously threaten the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asian Pacific region. We are willing to work for the prospects of peaceful reunification with out utmost sincerity and utmost effort. We will never allow the splittist forces in Taiwan to split Taiwan from China in any name and by any means.

To support the referendum on jointing the UN, the Taiwan authority had, for a number of times, sent letters to the UN Secretary General, the rotating chair of the UN Security Council and the chair of the UN General Assembly before this session of the General Assembly, proposing "application" of "joining the UN under the name of Taiwan". The Taiwan authority also abetted the 'countries that established diplomatic relations with Taiwan" to raise similar proposals to the UN, requesting Taiwan's application to be listed in the agenda of this session. The United Nations rejected all the letters sent by the Taiwan Authority lately. The UN General Assembly rejected the Taiwan-related proposal for 15 consecutive times. This again proves that the attempt of the Taiwan authority seeking for the UN membership is doomed to fail.

China Press: There is an exponential increase of Chinese citizens going abroad to travel, work, do business, study and live. Accordingly the likelihood of accidents is also increasing. What measures did your ministry adopt to protect the Chinese citizens abroad?

FM Yang: Our ministry pays high attention to protecting the Chinese citizens abroad and practices the principle of "putting people first" and "diplomacy for the people". We gave priority to the following areas:

Firstly, strengthening coordination. We have established an "inter-ministry joint meeting mechanism for the protection of overseas Chinese citizens and institutions" led by our ministry, which handled more than 20 major incidents including the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Secondly, enhancing early warning and publicity. We utilized the websites and other media channels to distribute the information concerning the security situation of countries as well as corresponding early warning information. We have distributed more than 500 pieces of information including special note for going abroad and consular news, offering important reference for Chinese citizens going abroad. Thirdly, strengthening emergency response. We have established and improved the emergency response mechanisms for the ministry and our diplomatic missions abroad, and formulated emergency response schemes, which enabled us to respond to emergencies quickly. Fourthly, deepening services. The Department of Consular Affairs published a Guide to China's Consular Protection and Assistance. Fifthly, strengthening external communications. We urged the concerned countries to take measures to protect the legitimate interests of the Chinese citizens and institutions by varied means such as conducting bilateral consultations and negotiations, and dispatching special representatives or working groups. Sixthly, strengthening institutional and personnel setup. Our ministry set up the Consular Protection Center to improve our ability in early-warning publicity, emergency handling and overall planning and coordination.