On the evening of July 25, 2016 local time, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajčák of Slovakia, the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) when attending a series of Foreign Ministers' meetings on East Asian cooperation in Vientiane, Laos.

Wang Yi stated that the recent China-EU Summit has gained fruitful results, during which China reiterated its support to the EU integration process and the EU expressed its willingness to work with China to jointly promote world economic recovery and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Wang Yi introduced relevant situation of the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, expressing that China and the ASEAN have reached important consensus on returning to the right track of dialogues and negotiation between countries concerned and dealing with the South China Sea issue with the "dual-track approach", which is in accordance with international laws including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The page of the so-called arbitration case has been turned over. Under current circumstances, all parties should focus on cooperation and work together to cope with more urgent challenges such as terrorism and climate change.

Miroslav Lajčák agreed with Wang Yi's positive comments on EU-China relations, saying that the EU welcomes the important consensus reached by China and the ASEAN on the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. The EU takes no side on the South China Sea issue and is willing to play a constructive role.