China's FM Wang Yi to visit Southeast Asian countries

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay an official visit to Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia from July 3 to July 14.

Zhao Lijian, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, on Friday announced that Foreign Minister Yi will take part in Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' meeting during his visit to Myanmar tomorrow.

This will mark the first high level meeting between China and Myanmar after the coup last year, China Global Television Network reported.

The Chinese Foreign Minister will also attend the Group of Twenty (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Indonesia which will witness the participation of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, it added.

The Ministry Spokesperson further announced that FM Yi will host the second Meeting of China-Indonesia High-level Dialogue Cooperation Mechanism, and the sixth Meeting of China-Cambodia Intergovernmental Coordination Committee in Nanning, Guangxi.

The visit of FM Yi comes after China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was confronted about its global influence in the Group of Seven (G7) Summit held in Germany. His visit aims to reassert China's ties with these countries.

Alina Wang, writing in Vision Times said that on the first day of the summit, US President Joe Biden announced plans to raise USD 600 billion in order to create a new G7 initiative -- also known as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) -- in an effort to counteract China's global influence through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as well as a number of recent developments in its naval and military programmes.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the new G7 initiative aimed to curb China's growing military prowess and business operations via its BRI project reported Alina in Vision Times.

The PGII initiative seeks to offer an alternative to infrastructure models that sell "debt traps," the White House said following Biden's announcement on June 26.

In addition to "bullying" debt-riddled countries such as Sri Lanka and Djibouti to sign up for the BRI under the premise of handsome funding for large infrastructure projects, the Chinese regime has also been gaining favours via the BRI.

Notably, during the Madrid summit on Wednesday, NATO also unveiled its new strategic concept, pointing out that the alliance faces "systemic competition" from China that challenges its values and interests.

The military alliance noted China's malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target allies and harm alliance security.

The document states that Beijing seeks to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and China pledged to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation on Wednesday during the meeting between Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi.

The meeting comes amid the faltering economy of Pakistan with China assuring its ally of a rollover of over USD 2 billion at a much-reduced rate.

Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said Pakistan is China's "ironclad" friend and reliable brother.

No matter how the international situation changes, the mutual trust and friendship between the two countries are rock solid, reported Xinhua.