Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang will attend and address the Opening Ceremony of the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit to be held in Nanning, Guangxi on September 17.

Vice President of Myanmar U Nyo Saw, Politburo Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc, and Politburo Member of the Central Committee of the Lao’s People’s Revolutionary Party, Deputy Prime Minister and Standing Member of the Cabinet Saleumxay Kommasith, among other foreign leaders and senior officials, and Secretary-General of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn will attend the Opening Ceremony.

People’s Daily: What is China’s expectation for the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit?

Guo Jiakun: The State Council Information Office has held a briefing on September 1 to share detailed information about the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership. Under the strategic guidance of leaders of both sides, China and ASEAN have engaged in fruitful practical cooperation in various areas and built increasingly closer economic and trade ties. China stands ready to work with ASEAN countries and make full use of the platforms of the China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit to further unleash cooperation potential in various fields, achieve mutual benefit at a higher level, and build an even closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Kyodo News: Today, dozens of descendants of Chinese forced laborers in WWII filed a lawsuit against several Japanese companies with Hebei High People’s Court. What’s your comment?

Guo Jiakun: The forced recruitment and enslavement of laborers is one of the serious crimes committed by Japanese militarists during their foreign aggression and colonial rule. China urges Japan to look history in the eye, reflect on past crimes, earnestly heed and respond to the just calls and legitimate claims of the people of victim countries in Asia, and properly resolve relevant issues left over from history with a responsible attitude.

Xinhua News Agency: It’s reported that the EU telecom lobby Connect Europe issued an open letter yesterday, saying that the revised Cybersecurity Act (CSA) “risks draining the sector of the very capital needed for fibre, 5G and 6G. The blanket equipment removal requirements foreseen by the CSA would impose up to €40 billion in replacement costs on our sector.” The letter was signed by 17 top European telecom companies’ executives, including the CEOs of France’s Orange, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and Spain’s Telefonica. What’s your comment?

Guo Jiakun: China noticed relevant reports. According to the assessment by relevant institutions, the Act will possibly cause loss of up to over €360 billion in the EU within the next five years. The open letter by the European telecommunication companies is yet another example that the EU’s moves will only hurt others while bringing no benefits to its own. Protectionism does not build competitiveness, but destroys EU opportunities for digital transformation, harms EU’s socioeconomic development, tarnishes its open-market reputation, and dampens foreign companies’ confidence in investing in the EU. We hope the EU will heed the voice of reason across various sectors and not adopt discriminatory restrictions.

Global Times: It is reported that Lin Chia-lung, head of the “foreign affairs” department of the Taiwan authorities, in a recent interview confirmed the plan to set up a “representative’s office” in the central Philippine province of Cebu, which will serve as a platform to deepen ties through the “Taiwan-Philippines economic corridor.” What’s your comment?

Guo Jiakun: Let me stress again, no matter how the DPP authorities collude with external forces to seek “diplomatic breakthroughs” and advance their separatist agenda in whatever form, such attempts will be all in vain and doomed to fail. We also urge the Philippine side to abide by the one-China principle with concrete actions, and refrain from taking any steps that could harm China-Philippines relations.