Hou Yanqi, China's ambassador to ASEAN, hosts a National Day reception in Jakarta on Tuesday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
China and the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) reiterated their commitment to further strengthening bilateral cooperation on Tuesday, with ASEAN representatives welcoming the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) recently proposed by President Xi Jinping.
Leaders from China and ASEAN were attending a reception in Jakarta's Hotel Mulia to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The reception was hosted by Hou Yanqi, China's ambassador to ASEAN, who called in her speech for cooperation in "upholding true multilateralism, supporting ASEAN unity and centrality, and working together to build a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home, as well as a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future".
"Adherence to a peaceful foreign policy has demonstrated China's responsibility with a global vision," Hou said.
"Head-of-state diplomacy has played a leading role. From Asia to Eurasia, from the China-Central Asia Summit to the BRICS Summit, China has helped galvanize new momentum for global solidarity and cooperation," the Chinese ambassador told about 300 reception attendees, including representatives of Mission of ASEAN countries to the association and Missions of ASEAN Dialog Partners.
Kao Kim Hourn, ASEAN secretary-general, spoke highly of China's Global Governance Initiative at the reception. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
China and ASEAN remain each other's largest trading partner, with trade reaching $686.78 billion in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 8.6 percent year-on-year. As a result of the Belt and Road Initiative, cooperation has become better structured and increasingly fruitful.
Secretary-General of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn said the association deeply values and appreciates "China's unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity" as evidenced by the country's active participation in ASEAN-led platforms and mechanisms like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA). He also referenced next month's scheduled signing of the ACFTA 3.0.
While also acknowledging China's support for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, the ASEAN secretary-general said, "President Xi Jinping's Global Governance Initiative offers a valuable reminder of the importance of shared responsibility, inclusivity and cooperation – principles that resonate closely with ASEAN's own vision for a peaceful and sustainable regional order."
Sarah Al Bakri Devadason, Malaysia's permanent representative to ASEAN, acknowledged the inspiration provided by China and its meaningful contribution to global peace, development and prosperity.
"Built on mutual trust and shared interests, ASEAN-China Dialog Relations, which has spanned over 30 years, remains dynamic and comprehensive based on shared aspirations," she said in her speech.
Guests come together to cut a birthday cake for the People's Republic of China at the reception. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Al Bakri Devadason said she values ASEAN-China's spirit of partnership, which goes beyond official meetings to touch the lives of their people through trade, connectivity, education, tourism and cultural exchange.
As this year's chair of ASEAN, Malaysia hosted the 46th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in May and will also hold the 47th summit in the same city later this month. At the upcoming summit, member states will be joined by the bloc's regular partners - China, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand, the European Union, Russia, the UK and the US – as well as non-partner nations from Latin America and Africa.
Muhammad Habib Abiyan Dzakwan, a researcher at the Department of International Relations, CSIS Indonesia, said Tuesday's reception showed that ASEAN nations and the bloc's dialog partners would be able to continue finding "middle grounds and converging interests" despite their different perspectives.
"It was a beautiful moment last night to see not only Missions of ASEAN countries to ASEAN who attended the event, but also Missions of ASEAN Dialog Partners to ASEAN join the celebration," Habib told China Daily on Wednesday.
Regarding the GGI, Habib said ASEAN, China and other countries needed to adopt an "all-hands-on-deck approach to sustain multilateralism".
More initiatives to promote better global governance are required, and it is to be hoped that ASEAN countries could also come up with their own ideas about how to sustain multilateralism, he added.
Source: ChinaDaily
