JAKARTA -- China called for deeper cooperation with the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) so as to achieve mutual
development as the regional bloc marks its 50th anniversary this year.
The call was made by Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Xu Bu when addressing
a seminar titled, "ASEAN at 50: A New Chapter for ASEAN-China
Relations", held here Friday.
"We should seize the opportunities and waste no time to move our
relations onto a higher plane," the ambassador said.
China and ASEAN should push forward a win-win cooperation in
connectivity, production capacity, promoting trade and investment, and reaping
benefits from the upgraded protocol of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA).
The two economies should combine their strength and potential to carry
out those efforts, aimed at synergizing China's Belt and Road Initiative and
ASEAN Vision 2025 in the future, he added.
"China is also ready to promote and support the growth of
sub-regional frameworks, such as the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the East
ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) to assist in narrowing the development gaps
within ASEAN and move forward ASEAN community building," Xu said.
Prioritizing dialogues to settle regional issues, respecting each
other's concerns and national condition are also part of efforts that need to
be implemented to improve the strategic partnership between China and ASEAN,
the ambassador said.
Ambassador Xu added that close relations between China and ASEAN is an
inseparable part of the strategic partnership between the two.
To make the two sides closely know each other, China and ASEAN need to
enhance cooperation on cultural, science, technology, environmental protection,
tourism sectors and intensify exchanges among youth, media organizations, think
tanks and local provinces, he said.
Hailing Ambassador Xu's remarks, ASEAN Deputy Secretary General for
Community and Corporate Affairs AKP Mochtan said that intensifying contacts
between communities of the two economies is a bright idea as it would create
good foundation towards synergizing the goals of Belt and Road Initiative and
ASEAN Vision 2025.
"Excellent community-to-community contact will lead to a
civilization based on shared destiny community," Mochtan said at the
seminar.
China established dialogue relationship with ASEAN, which groups
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, in 1991. The two sides forged a strategic
partnership in 2003.
China continues to be the largest trading partner of ASEAN, and ASEAN
is China's third largest trade partner.
Two-way trade was recorded at USD452.2 billion last year. Combined
two-way investment had exceeded USD183 billion by the end of May. (Xinhua) posted by Becky D. de Asis/The Reline News
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