Wang Yi and Fidan meet in Baku: China readout cites Belt and Road, Middle Corridor and COP31

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Baku on 15 October, on the sidelines of the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The Chinese Foreign Ministry published a readout of the talks, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry listed the meeting among Fidan’s contacts at the summit.

What the Chinese readout says

According to the Chinese account, Wang Yi said Beijing was ready to use the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations to lift strategic cooperation “to a new level”. He proposed aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with the Middle Corridor programme and creating a better environment for two-way investment. He also said China supports Turkey in hosting the 31st session of the UN climate conference, COP31.

The readout also records a security message. Wang Yi, it says, appreciated Turkey’s repeated emphasis on China’s security concerns and its efforts to curb “terrorist acts endangering China’s national security”, and hoped Ankara would keep supporting Beijing’s position on issues touching its core interests.

Fidan is quoted in the same document as saying Turkey wants to speed up high-level exchanges, welcomes Chinese investment and tourists, adheres to the one-China principle and “will never allow the use of Turkish territory to engage in activities endangering China’s security”. These words come from the Chinese side’s summary; the Turkish ministry’s page for the summit lists the meeting but, in the material available, does not reproduce a separate account of what was said.

The two ministers also exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East and on the Ukraine crisis, the readout adds, without giving positions.

A busy Baku day for Fidan

The Turkish ministry’s summit page shows Fidan was also received by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, among others, on the margins of the same CICA summit. Azerbaijan holds the CICA chair, according to the Chinese readout of Wang Yi’s separate talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

Ankara and Beijing have recently been working on technical ties as well, as in TURKSAT and China Satcom: Turkey and China to co-develop communications for UAVs and “smart” border security.

Sources: the Chinese Foreign Ministry readout, Wang Yi Meets Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry page on Fidan’s participation in the CICA summit.