BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu will attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting from Feb. 21 to 22 in Rio de Janeiro, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi was unable to attend the meeting because of scheduling conflicts, spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing. Wang is in Europe where he met with a host of leaders from Germany, Spain and France.
The G20 this year is being presided over by Brazil and this will be the first meeting of the year of the major economies’ foreign ministers.
According to the G20 Brazil website, the group is to discuss a number of issues, including “the situation in the Middle East and the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which continue to generate global concern over the humanitarian crisis and the geopolitical and economic consequences of the conflicts.”
In a statement earlier on Wednesday, Russia called any G20 Ukraine discussion “destructive”.
When asked about the Ukraine crisis being on the agenda and Russia objecting, Mao said the G20 is the main forum for international economic cooperation, “not a platform for resolving geopolitical and security issues.”
“We hope that this foreign ministers’ meeting will help promote solidarity and cooperation among all parties, and make positive contributions to world economic growth and global development,” Mao said.
Ma met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Tuesday, where he highlighted the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil, according to a separate statement from the Chinese foreign ministry released on Wednesday.
Ma said China wants to further cooperate on strengthening development strategies and collaboration in various fields with Brazil, and push relations to a new level, the statement said.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christian Schmollinger)
