On January 12, 2024, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, who accompanied Prime Minister Alexander De Croo for a visit to China, in Beijing.

Wang Yi said that the Chinese side appreciates the importance attached by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib to China-Belgium relations and the positive signals they sent during their visit to China. Wang Yi expressed the belief that Prime Minister Alexander De Croo's visit will be a complete success and inject new impetus into the development of China-Belgium and China-EU relations.

Wang Yi said, China-Belgium relations have maintained a steady, sound and positive momentum of development, benefiting from mutual respect and understanding between the two sides all along, and continuous expansion and deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation, which has brought important benefits to the people of the two countries and injected stability into China-EU relations. Wang Yi expressed his willingness to establish a good working relationship with Hadja Lahbib, strengthen exchanges and communication, jointly implement the important common understandings reached between the leaders of the two countries, and continuously bring China-Belgium relations to new heights.

Hadja Lahbib said that enhancing understanding and cooperation with China was an important objective of her visit to China. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo's visit has yielded positive results. Belgium will continue to adhere to the one-China policy and will not support "Taiwan independence", and looks forward to developing stable and constructive bilateral relations with China, deepening high-quality cooperation, and strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges. "De-risking" does not mean closing the door to economic and trade cooperation. Hadja Lahbib expressed the hope that economic and trade relations between Belgium and China will be more balanced, and more European enterprises will enter the Chinese market.

Wang Yi comprehensively expounded on the essential requirements and distinct features of Chinese modernization, stressing that China will remain committed to the path of peaceful development, high-quality development and high-standard opening up, and China's door to the outside world will only open wider. Protectionism has no future, and overstretching "de-risking" will only bring greater risks. China is committed to fostering a business environment that is based on market principles, governed by law and up to international standards, and enterprises from all countries are welcome to invest and do business in China. China is ready to strengthen cooperation with European countries in green development, climate change response, and other areas.

The two sides also had an exchange of views on Ukraine, the Palestinian-Israeli situation and other issues. Wang Yi said that among the major countries, China has the best peace and security record. China does not want to see fighting and turbulence anywhere, and will continue to play a constructive role in promoting talks for peace and political settlement of hotspot issues in its own way.