Chinese Premier calls for strengthened China-ASEAN ties

Phnom Penh, The Gulf Observer: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attended the 25th China-ASEAN Summit, during which he called for enhancing cooperation with ASEAN countries, and jointly maintaining regional peace and stability.

Li said that in November last year, the two sides held a special summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations and formally inaugurated a comprehensive strategic partnership.

At that summit, President Xi Jinping proposed jointly building a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home, he recalled.The regional and international environments are undergoing profound and complex changes with rising uncertainties and destabilizing factors, Li said.

He said that China and ASEAN are comprehensive strategic partners with a shared future, and have stood together through thick and thin.”Picking sides should not have to be our choice. Openness and cooperation are the viable way in meeting our common challenges,” said Li.

China, he said, will continue to take ASEAN as a high priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and will all along support ASEAN’s community-building as well as ASEAN centrality in East Asian cooperation, he said.China stands ready to work with ASEAN to stay focused on development and cooperation, and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, he added.