Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh is joining other
senior officials, scholars and researchers from the 10 ASEAN member
countries and China in a forum marking the 10th anniversary of the
ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership, which opened in Bangkok on August
2.
Addressing the event, Deputy FM Vinh shared his
positive view on ASEAN-China relations, affirming that the strategic
partnership is one of the important pillars of the region.
He said the promotion of ties not only benefits both sides, but also
makes significant contributions to common peace, stability and
development in the region.
In the future, ASEAN and
China should maintain and strengthen measures to build mutual trust
and understanding, consider it as an important basis to nurture their
sound cooperation and long-lasting stability, as well as to settle
existing differences between the two sides, he stressed.
He voiced his support for the implementation of commemorative
activities, while suggesting ways to further the ASEAN-China strategic
partnership, especially in the fields of mutual interest such as
economics, trade, investment, connectivity, development and the response
to non-traditional security challenges.
The
diplomat underscored the need to conform to international law and the
1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as the
settlement of disputes through peaceful methods, the full and effective
implementation of the Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the East Sea
(DOC), and the early formation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea
(COC), thus contributing to the common development of the ASE AN-China
strategic partnership for peace, stability and development.
During the forum, participants agreed that since ASEAN and China set
up their dialogue relations in 1991, and in the past decade
particularly, political confidence among countries has been
strengthened, while their economic, trade and investment cooperation has
been increasingly developed, expanding to various fields.
At the same time, people-to-people diplomacy and cultural exchanges have also been stepped up, they said.
China is now the leading trade partner of ASEAN, while the
latter is the third largest trade partner of the former, with two-way
trade hitting 400 billion USD in 2012, they noted.
Delegates at the event proposed measures to further consolidate
ASEAN-China ties in the future, focusing on the boosting of dialogues,
consultations and cooperation in politics and security for peace,
stability and development.
They highlighted the need
to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation by more
effectively implementing agreements and commitments in the framework of
the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, while strengthening efforts to
conclude negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP), striving for two-way trade of 500 billion USD in 2015.
They also underscored the necessity to make full use of existing
mechanisms such as the ASEAN-China Centre and ASEAN-China Fair, with a
view to furthering connectivity, people-to-people and cultural
exchanges, business linkage and education cooperation.
It is essential to foster maritime cooperation, strengthen
coordination in dealing with issues relating to non-traditional security
challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, pandemics, and
energy and food security, they said.
They shared the
significance of the partnership and cooperation between the association
and China in the maintenance of peace, stability and security in the
East Sea .
They emphasized that it is crucial
to strengthen dialogues and consultations, peacefully settling disputes
in the East Sea based on international law and the 1982 UNCLOS,
conforming to agreed principles and commitments while preventing the
disputes from impacting on general relations and cooperation between
ASEAN and China as well as peace, stability and development in the
region.
Based on achievements gained during the
implementation of DOC, participants lauded ASEAN and China ’s will to
conduct consultations on COC this September and expressed their hope
that the two sides will finalise the document at an early date.
Addressing the event, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi affirmed his
country’s constant policy to build a friendly neighbourliness and
mutually beneficial cooperation with ASEAN. China considers the
grouping as a priority in its foreign policy and supports the bloc’s
central role in regional architecture, he said.
He
affirmed that China wants to and is willing to continue working
together with ASEAN to settle peacefully disputes in the East Sea.
He said China commits itself to continue implementing DOC in a full
manner and heading towards the building of COC, thus making East Sea
a region of peace and cooperation.
The
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, and Vietnam.-VNA