The Ambassador of China to Cyprus Liu Yantao reiterated on Thursday his country’s ‘consistent and clear’ stance over a settlement to the Cyprus problem on the basis of the UN resolutions calling for a bi-zonal bi-communcal federation. ‘For a country that has yet to be reunified we deeply understand the importance of sovereignty, of security and of reunification,’ Liu said speaking through an interpreter responding to questions during a workshop on ‘the Two Sessions and China’s Modernization’ held in the Chinese Embassy, in Nicosia. ‘In today’s world,’ he added, ‘both China and Cyprus are upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law because this serves our common interests, this is our shared commitment, these are our shared principles.’ The Chinese diplomat also said that the relationship of China and Cyprus ‘is featured by equality between a big and relatively smaller country, it is featured by mutual respect for and mutual respect in each other.’ ‘On the Cyprus question’ he added, ‘we respect and accommodate the Cypriot people’s aspiration for sovereignty, security and national reunification and we have firmly stood on the side of the Cypriot people and we hope the Cyprus question could be settled in a comprehensive, and viable manner and at the UN Security Council and regional fora we have been working hard along this line.’ Liu also recalled that on the Cyprus problem, China ‘has taken a consistent and clear stand.’ ‘Our position is we respect relevant resolutions on the Cyprus question and we wish to see an early comprehensive effective and viable settlement of this question in the framework of a bi-zonal bi-communal federation. We respect the choice of the Cypriot people and we are firm in our position,’ he concluded. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Many rounds of UN-brokered talks have failed to reunify Cyprus under a federal roof with the latest round in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana in July 2017 ending inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency