On May 13, 2019 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia jointly met the press in Sochi. A journalist asked how did Wang Yi envision the prospects of the economic and trade consultations between China and the United States (US).

Wang Yi said that with the joint efforts of both sides, the China-US economic and trade negotiations have made important and substantial progress, and at the same time faced difficulties that need to be taken seriously and solved. Under such circumstances, it is meaningless for one side to accuse of another, and it is even more unacceptable to shirk responsibility onto the other side. The attempt to exert extreme pressure will only lead to a justified counterattack. The Chinese side's measures are not only to safeguard its own due rights and interests, but also to maintain the basic rules of the multilateral trading mechanism.

Wang Yi said that China and the US are the world's second biggest and the largest economies respectively. The direction of China-US economic and trade relations not only concerns the development of the two countries themselves, but also bears on the prospects of the world economy. We believe that as long as the negotiations are in line with the general direction of China's reform and opening up, the fundamental needs for China's commitment to pursuing high-quality development, and the common and long-term interests of the Chinese and American peoples, the negotiating teams of both sides have the ability and wisdom to well respond to their respective reasonable needs and finally reach a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement.

Wang Yi emphasized that negotiations are not a one-way street, and should be based on equality. No one should expect one side to only accept the request of the other side. When negotiating with any country, China must continue to safeguard its national sovereignty, the interests of its people and the dignity of the Chinese nation. We adhered to these principles and bottom lines in the past, and we stick to them now and will continue to do so in the future.