Xinhua News Agency: To follow up on China’s announcement about President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and related events, could you share more details and China’s expectation of the meeting?

Mao Ning: After 12 years, China is once again hosting APEC. We have had a fruitful APEC “China Year” so far. Together with other member economies of APEC, by focusing on the theme of “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” and the three priority areas of “Openness, Innovation, and Cooperation,” China has successfully held over 300 meetings and events, including the APEC senior officials’ meetings, 10 ministerial meetings on women, trade, tourism, forestry, food security, SMEs, energy, human resources, transportation and finance, and high-level events of the Digital Weeks. More than 10,000 representatives have participated in the events and reached a number of common understandings on cooperation, laying a solid foundation for the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen.

Next week, the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting will kick off in Shenzhen. We look forward to building further consensus and agreeing on the APEC Shenzhen Leaders’ Declaration among all member economies as well as more practical results in key areas such as trade, connectivity, digital economy, AI and so on to inject strong impetus into the prosperity and growth of the Asia Pacific and the world.

Bloomberg: CNN has reported that the U.S. intelligence community is still working to understand the relationship between a Chinese business woman who had an affair with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and the Chinese government, with multiple sources telling CNN that the intelligence collected on her does not prove that she was acting as a spy for Beijing, and the characterization of Alice Huang as the Chinese spy is over-torqued. We’re wondering if the foreign ministry has a comment.

Mao Ning: We have made our position clear regarding the so-called “Chinese spy” allegation.

The Paper: As the curtain fell on the ninth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, we have seen new records in terms of the number of exhibitors, exhibition floor space and the value of intended deals. Over a hundred enterprises and institutions have signed up for the next edition. The expo has been described as an “importathon.” What is your comment on this?

Mao Ning: As the world’s second-largest consumer and import market, China has held the CIIE for nine consecutive years. Our doors are wide open to the world for sharing development opportunities. At this year’s expo, businesses from all over the world once again cast a yes vote on and showed their confidence and desire to further cultivate the Chinese market.

The appeal of the Chinese market comes from its enormous size and potential as well as China’s institutional strengths. Policy predictability, an increasingly business-friendly environment and a more robust legal framework provide the strongest reassurance. China will work to ensure the continued success of the CIIE, stand for openness and win-win cooperation, and through China’s sustained high-quality development, provide more certainty for global development.

PTI: You already outlined the importance of the forthcoming APEC summit. I just would like you to highlight what will be the most important expectation in terms of global importance that China expects out of this summit.

Mao Ning: The theme for the APEC “China Year” is “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together.” We look forward to working with all parties to adopt the Shenzhen Declaration at next week’s APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, and achieve practical outcomes in areas that are vital for both regional and global economic growth, such as trade, connectivity, digital economy, and artificial intelligence.

AFP: Two questions. Firstly, on APEC again, just since it’s only a few days away, now I wondered if you had any update on the potential trilateral meeting between the presidents of China, the U.S. and Russia. And then a second question, on the report yesterday in the Guardian that said that China has ruled out hosting the COP33 climate summit in 2028. I wonder if you could tell if that’s correct. And if so, why does China not want to host COP33?

Mao Ning: On your first question, China is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state. If there is further information, we will release it in a timely way.

On your second question, we have no information at the moment. The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an important platform for global climate governance. China is committed to advancing global green and low-carbon transition and international cooperation on climate response.

Bloomberg: Bloomberg has reported that banned NVIDIA chips ended up at a Shanghai data center linked to Alice Huang, who is reportedly in Beijing. What is the foreign ministry’s comment? And the second question is that U.S. lawmakers and the Commerce Department are moving quickly to advance new chip bills and block Chinese firms from remotely accessing American computing power overseas. Does Beijing view these potential restrictions as a violation of the U.S.-China trade truce ahead of next week’s APEC summit, and how would China respond?

Mao Ning: On your first question, I am not familiar with the situation.

On your second question, China opposes abuse of export control measures, which disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains and serve no one’s interests. China and the U.S. need to work together to deliver on the important common understandings between the two presidents and uphold the momentum of steady development of China-U.S. economic and trade ties.

Bloomberg: What action is China prepared to take in response to Thailand’s concerns that mining operations involving Chinese companies in Myanmar may be contributing to arsenic contamination in the rivers flowing into Thailand, including whether Beijing will investigate the companies involved?

Mao Ning: I’m not familiar with the specifics. The Chinese government has all along asked Chinese companies to fulfil their corporate responsibility and protect the environment. We stand ready to enhance cooperation with Thailand and other Mekong countries on the protection of water resources and ecological environment.