From October 25 to 26, 2006, Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei headed a Chinese government delegation to attend18th Post-Forum Dialogue Meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Nadi, Fiji. He held a dialogue with the PIF representatives, namely Vanuatu Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sato Kilman, Fijian Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola and Forum Secretary-General Greg Urwin, on bilateral ties and international and regional issues of common interest.
He first congratulated on the success of the 37th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' meeting and spoke highly of China's ties with the forum and its members. He pointed out that the year 2006 witnessed rapid development in the Chinese-South Pacific relations, which have been marked by frequent high-level exchanges and expanded trade cooperation. He noted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Fiji and attendance at opening ceremony of the First Ministerial Meeting of the China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development & Cooperation Forum in April have helped usher China's relations with the region to a new era, adding that the Chinese premier had broadly engaged with leaders from island countries and reached a wide range of consensus on deepening bilateral cooperation at the meeting.
He said China has appointed a special envoy to the forum and will support the "Pacific Plan," which is pursued by the region to promote economic, tourism and educational cooperation and offer assistance to island countries in disaster reduction and disease prevention, to contribute to the development of these countries.
The PIF representatives warmly welcomed He to lead a Chinese government delegation to the dialogue meeting and noted that the Chinese government has provided generous assistance to the forum and its members over the years and has made contributions to the economic and social development and the uplifting of people's living standards in the region. At this dialogue meeting, the Chinese government proposed a couple of cooperation programs, which shows China's sincerity to develop relations with the forum and its members, they said. The representatives thanked China for this and expressed willingness to work with China to well conduct relevant cooperation and deepen bilateral friendship.
He briefed on the latest developments of the relations across the Taiwan Straits and reiterated China's principled position on the Taiwan question, while the forum representatives reiterated the forum's stand to apply the one-China policy in handling related issues.