On February 21, 2012, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng met with visiting Director of Operations Pierre Krähenbühl of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by appointment.

Vice Minister Xie spoke positively of the important role played by ICRC in the humanitarian field and represented the Chinese government to express gratitude to ICRC for its assistance in the rescue of 29 Chinese citizens hijacked in Sudan. Xie stressed that China is willing to strengthen the dialogue and cooperation with ICRC in the humanitarian field.

Pierre said that ICRC attaches great importance to the cooperation with China. ICRS was pleased to be able to play a useful role in the rescue operation in Sudan and was willing to continue to uphold the principles of impartiality, neutrality and non-politics to fulfill its humanitarian duties.

The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on the current international humanitarian situation.