China seeks Turkish support for its policies on Xinjiang
- Beijing’s main aim in far western region is fighting terrorism and separatism, Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells his Turkish counterpart on trip to Ankara
- Uygurs in Turkey fear they could be extradited to China under new agreement between the two countries
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According to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang urged Cavusoglu to extend his support for China on issues related to its core interests, just as Beijing supported Turkey’s sovereignty and its right to choose a social system and model of economic development.
He suggested the two sides make use of cooperative mechanisms to increase exports of Turkish products to China, local currency settlements, infrastructure construction and people-to-people exchanges.
Turkey has received 15 million doses of a vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech and ordered tens of millions more. This week, it also received 1.4 million doses of the vaccine developed by Germany’s BioNTech, its first significant batch of a non-Chinese product.
The US and Turkey are at loggerheads over a number of issues, including Ankara’s purchase of a US$2.5 billion anti-aircraft system from Russia. Several senior Turkish defence industry officials have also been sanctioned by the US.
Erdogan said in his meeting with Wang that Turkey was firmly against any form of terrorism and expressed his wish to build closer ties with China, including on vaccine cooperation. In January, he appeared on television receiving a Sinovac jab.