In the evening of January 21, 2014, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia in Montreux, Switzerland. They exchanged views on the Geneva II Conference on the Syrian issue.

Wang Yi said, convening the Geneva II Conference on the Syrian issue as scheduled is an achievement itself. We hope that the two parties in Syria will start the talk, and also keep it on. Yesterday, the Chinese side proposed five principles for a political settlement of the Syrian issue. At present, it is of vital importance to urgently end the hostilities and violence, firstly to form the consensus on the general framework of the peace talk, and at the same time, set up the follow-up mechanism to keep the dialogues and negotiations going, as well as the political efforts continuing without interruption.

Sergey Lavrov noted that the situation of the Syrian issue is very complicated. The only way out is to get the Syrian government and the opposition factions to start the talk directly and to reach some agreement on the future of the country. Russia and China share consistent position on the political settlement of the Syrian issue. Hope both sides continue to keep close communications.