The 22nd China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultations Held in Singapore

2016-04-28 23:00

On April 28, 2016, the 22nd China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Senior Officials' Consultations was held in Singapore. It was co-chaired by Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chee Wee Kiong of Singapore. Senior officials from other member states of the ASEAN and deputy secretary-general of the ASEAN attended the meeting.

The meeting focused on the preparations for this years' series of activities commemorating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Amid a warm and friendly atmosphere, attendants exchanged in-depth views and reached extensive consensus. Senior officials attending the consultations spoke highly of the remarkable achievements reached in the past 25 years since China and the ASEAN established the dialogue relations, agreeing that the bilateral relationship has become the most active and the strongest one among all the relations between the ASEAN and its dialogue partners. The two sides have yielded abundant fruits in exchanges and cooperation in all fields, which has not only brought tangible benefits to both sides but also made important contributions to regional peace, stability and development.

Senior officials of each country exchanged views on China-ASEAN relations, cooperation in East Asia and international and regional topics of common interest, and mainly discussed on how to further well implement the "2+7 cooperation framework" and the third Action Plan for China-ASEAN strategic partnership so as to improve and upgrade China-ASEAN relations. The two sides agreed to cooperate closely to successfully hold the 19th China-ASEAN Summit to be held in Laos this September, the summit commemorating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations and other commemorations, and promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in all fields for in-depth development.

The ASEAN side expressed their admiration for the development notions of innovation, coordination, green development, openness and sharing proposed by China in its "13th Five-Year Plan". The ASEAN believes that China's peaceful development as well as sustained and stable economic growth constitute an important opportunity for the region. The ASEAN countries hope to gain benefits from China's development and building of the "Belt and Road". The Chinese side expressed that the ASEAN is a priority in China's diplomacy with neighboring countries. China always supports the construction and integration process of the ASEAN Community ,as well as ASEAN's development and growth, and upholds the ASEAN's central role in regional cooperation. All sides agreed that China and ASEAN countries should seize the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral dialogue relations to enhance strategic communication, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly manage and control divergences and jointly build a closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny.