China viewed as reliable partner for ASEAN amid rising challenges

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should jointly set an example for safeguarding regional peace and stability in a world of rising chaos.

Speaking at the China-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wang said regional countries must not allow geopolitical conflicts or bloc confrontations to be introduced into the Asian homeland.

China and ASEAN countries should continue to resolve disputes through dialogue, address differences through consultation and maintain a good environment for common development, he said.

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Wang said Beijing is ready to take the lead in signing the Protocol to the Treaty on The Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone. The treaty, which entered into force in 1997, is a key legal instrument in preserving Southeast Asia as a nuclear weapon-free zone and free from all other weapons of mass destruction.

Noting that the South China Sea is the common home of regional countries rather than a wrestling ground for major countries, Wang said China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to expand cooperation in areas such as marine environmental protection, navigation safety, maritime law enforcement, and key maritime infrastructure.

The Chinese foreign minister also said China and ASEAN countries should fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and advance consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

This will ensure that the initiative of resolving the South China Sea issue is kept in the hands of regional countries, he said.

Since the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations in 1991, China and ASEAN have significantly strengthened their political mutual trust and achieved fruitful results through practical cooperation in areas such as economics, security and people-to-people exchanges for more than three decades.

China and ASEAN have remained each other's largest trading partners for five consecutive years. Last year, their bilateral trade reached 6.99 trillion yuan ($970 billion), up 9 percent year-on-year and accounting for 15.9 percent of China's total foreign trade.

Following President Xi Jinping's successful visits to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia in April, China and ASEAN countries have made progress in building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future and moved toward more high-quality cooperation benefiting both sides.

Wang said China and ASEAN countries should support and benefit each other in advancing the modernization drive in Asia.

Equal dialogue

As a source of stability in a turbulent world, China will be the most reliable partner for ASEAN countries in addressing challenges, he said.

According to Wang, negotiations on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 have been fully completed, and the protocol is expected to be signed within this year.

The Chinese side appreciates ASEAN's firm commitment to upholding free trade and the multilateral trading system, he said.

Wang said China believes that it is essential to resolve economic and trade differences through equal dialogue and mutual benefit, while safeguarding one's own dignity and fundamental principles, and without sacrificing the interests of third parties, he said.

The Chinese foreign minister also highlighted the increasingly convenient people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.

The official launch of "Lancang-Mekong visa" and "ASEAN visa" policies have allowed people from both sides to visit each other frequently like "visiting family and friends", he said.

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The participants in the foreign ministers' meeting spoke highly of the dynamics and outcomes of China-ASEAN cooperation, saying China remains one of ASEAN's most important dialogue partners.

They expressed willingness to accelerate the alignment of development strategies with China, jointly promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and deepen all-around cooperation in such areas as trade, connectivity, digital transformation and transnational crime.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Wang held bilateral meetings with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Adviser for Foreign Affairs of the Interim Government of Bangladesh Touhid Hossain and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Contact the writer at mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn