WORKING WITH ASEAN TO BUILD A CLOSER COMMUNITY WITH A SHARED FUTURE—Speech by Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China

Editor’s note:

China has always considered ASEAN a foreign policy priority due to so many neighboring countries in the key region for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. On May 7, 2018, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered a keynote speech at a ceremony celebrating the 15th anniversary of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It gives me great pleasure to visit the ASEAN Secretariat. The first thing that caught my eye upon entering the Secretariat court was the billowing national flags of the ASEAN member states. For me, that was a powerful symbol of the unity and vibrancy of ASEAN as an organization. As ASEAN’s permanent institution,the Secretariat has played a crucial role in promoting ASEAN community building and ASEAN exchange and cooperation with the rest of the world. On behalf of the Chinese government, let me extend warm greetings and best wishes to colleagues of the Secretariat, diplomatic envoys,friends from the think tanks and the media, and to all those who have cared for and supported friendship and cooperation between China and ASEAN.

After celebrating its golden jubilee last year, ASEAN remains one of the most successful organizations in regional cooperation, as it has consistently for decades. With united and pioneering efforts over the past half century, ASEAN countries have lifted Southeast Asia from the woes of conflict and poverty, transforming the region into a land of peace,stability and development. You have established the first subregional community in Asia. You succeeded in erecting ASEAN-led regional cooperation architecture and making ASEAN an important player in upholding regional peace and stability, advancing regional integration and promoting global multipolarity.ASEAN’s progress is a testament to the unity, resilience, vitality and strength of its 10 members.I admire the extraordinary achievements ASEAN has made,and I am fully confident that ASEAN can look forward to an even brighter future.

Linked by mountains and rivers, China and ASEAN are good neighbors, good friends and good partners. Our cooperation transcends the bilateral scope and has become an important force in promoting peace,stability and common prosperity in the region. With ASEAN as a top priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, China has steadfastly committed to enhancing friendship and cooperation with ASEAN and supported ASEAN community building and ASEAN centrality in regional cooperation. China supports ASEAN playing an even bigger role in developing an open and inclusive regional architecture.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses the launch ceremony for celebrations marking the 15th anniversary of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta,Indonesia, on May 7, 2018.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership. Over the past 15 years, we have nurtured good-neighborly relations and built mutual trust. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder during challenging times such as the global financial crisis and major natural disasters and made tireless efforts to promote regional peace and common prosperity. By deepening cooperation with a peoplecentered approach, we worked together to promote the Belt and Road Initiative and enhance people-to-people exchange,delivering real benefits to the countries and peoples in the region.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy. It is also the dawn of the next fifty years of ASEAN. In the course of China’s reform and opening-up and ASEAN integration, China and ASEAN countries have developed side-by-side and together embarked on a path of growth and prosperity. In his keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference held last month, President Xi Jinping presented the vision for building a shared future and introduced a series of new measures China will take to open up wider.China’s development will create greater opportunities for the world, and as China’s nearby neighbors, ASEAN countries stand to benefit more and earlier from these opportunities. We welcome ASEAN countries to get on board the fast train of Chinese development and hope to work with ASEAN to build a closer community with a shared future and a better tomorrow for China-ASEAN cooperation.

China is committed to its role as ASEAN’s partner for common development. China will pursue its own development in the broader context of a developing Asia. We will work with ASEAN to fully implement the “3+X”cooperation framework,enhance synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN’s development strategies,build the economic belt in the Lancang-Mekong region and upgrade cooperation with BIMPEAGA. We will work to advance development at both regional and sub-regional levels to bolster regional competitiveness and deliver a more fulfilling and happy life to our peoples.

With united and pioneering efforts over the past half century,ASEAN countries have lifted Southeast Asia from the woes of conflict and poverty.

China is committed to being a partner for peace.China advocates a new vision of common, comprehensive,cooperative and sustainable security. We are ready to work with countries in the region to build an ASEAN-centered,open and inclusive security architecture in the Asia Pacific based on international law and rules. China will work with ASEAN countries to preserve the positive trend in the South China Sea, properly manage differences through amicable dialogue and steadily advance COC consultations to build the South China Sea into a body of water of peace, friendship and cooperation.

China is committed to serving as a partner for greater openness and win-win progress. Both China and ASEAN countries have benefited from free trade,and it is in our common interest to uphold multilateralism and the international trade system.China is ready to work with ASEAN to reach early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, build the East Asia economic community and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation to inject positive energy into the world economy.

China is committed to serving as a partner for entrepreneurship and innovation. Innovation is the primary engine for development.This year is the China-ASEAN Innovation Year, which dovetails with the ASEAN theme of“Resilience and Innovation.”China will work with ASEAN to seize opportunities arising during the new round of technological and industrial revolution and synergize our development initiatives through innovation. We are also ready to share the Chinese experience on the Internet-Plus model and the massive entrepreneurship and innovation initiative. These efforts will inject fresh vigor into our business cooperation and innovation-driven development.

China is committed to remaining your partner in promoting inclusiveness and mutual learning. ASEAN offers a good example for places with different ethnicities and cultures to achieve ethnic unity and social harmony. The Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, which China advocates, resonate with the ASEAN Way of consensus building and accommodating each other’s comfort. China will continue to respect the national conditions and development paths of ASEAN countries and enhance our exchanges in governance, development philosophy, society and culture to jointly foster a spirit of China-ASEAN cooperation characterized by mutual trust,mutual accommodation, mutual benefit and mutual assistance.

There is hope when we dare to dream and there is a future if we care to share. Let us forge ahead by connecting our dreams and sharing opportunities. Together,we can write a new chapter of China-ASEAN cooperation and gift the world a new Asian miracle.