Wang Yi has been the most talked-about diplomat in the past two days after his appointment as China’s foreign minister. The veteran diplomat was in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday on his first visit abroad after China announced his new duty and met Hakan Fidan, Türkiye’s new foreign minister, who took office after May 28 elections.
The two top diplomats did not hold a news conference, and Wang was also received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Media outlets reported that Fidan and Wang discussed bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as regional and international developments.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said they also discussed the topics of intergovernmental cooperation committee, consultation mechanisms between foreign ministries, work of an economic committee and how to benefit from those mechanisms more efficiently, as well as nuclear energy, agriculture, civil aviation, culture and tourism. Their discussions also focused on increasing mutual investments, as well as the state of the Uyghur community in China. In addition, Fidan and Wang talked about developments in the Middle East, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the global financial system, sources said.
Wang’s trip was planned before his reappointment as foreign minister. He also serves as director of the office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee. Chinese officials announced last week that Wang would travel to Türkiye for a tour including Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa following the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg.
He replaced Qin Gang, whose lengthy absence from office fueled speculations. China’s state media outlet Xinhua said Tuesday evening that China’s top legislature had voted to remove Qin from office and replace him with his boss Wang Yi.
A veteran politician who also serves as the Communist Party’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi has relinquished the foreign minister role and assumed the more senior position of Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission just seven months ago. The past month had already seen the 69-year-old Wang assume some of Qin Gang’s responsibilities as foreign minister, including traveling to South Africa.
A fluent speaker of Japanese and English, he is seen as a safe pair of hands with a wealth of diplomatic experience. Wang is a familiar face in international diplomatic circles, and his return to the position of foreign minister is not seen as portending a major shift in Chinese policy. In 2018, he began a five-year term as a state councilor, an influential position at the top echelons of China’s complex political apparatus. Wang has also earned a reputation as a tough negotiator, having most recently held contentious discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing.
Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and China were established in 1971. Bilateral relations were elevated to the level of “strategic cooperation” in 2010.
Wang’s visit was the highest level from a Chinese official to Ankara in the past three years. It was Wang back then who visited Türkiye to mark the anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties. Erdoğan visited Beijing in 2019 on an official visit.
Türkiye and China improved economic cooperation during the tenure of Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) since 2002 and amid China’s Road and Belt Initiative. Wang’s visit also coincides with the International Defense Industry Fair 2023 (IDEF) held in Istanbul and participated by dozens of Chinese defense, logistics and technology companies.
Recently speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), the Turkish ambassador to China highlighted that the two countries were working to advance diplomatic contacts and economic cooperation. “Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and China may intensify in the coming period. We continue our efforts for high-level visits at the ministerial and presidential levels. Our desire is to increase and intensify these visits,” Ismail Hakkı Musa said. Musa said Türkiye currently faces a trade deficit in terms of trade volume, but he emphasized the importance of promoting Chinese investments and tourism to establish a balanced and sustainable trade structure.
“When a Chinese person visits Türkiye, they can find both similarities and differences. This is the charm of Türkiye. Tourism activities peaked in 2019, with around 560,000 Chinese tourists visiting Türkiye. However, this is a very low number, and we want to increase it,” he said. He said Türkiye’s Middle Corridor initiative, which traverses the Caspian Sea region and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which Türkiye supports, will be aligned and coordinated through a mutually beneficial approach.
