Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Deng Xijun (Photo: VNA)Jakarta (VNA) - China-ASEAN relations set anexample for the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted regionaleconomic recovery, promoted regional peace and stability, and strengthenedpeople-to-people ties, said Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Deng Xijun.
In his article written on the threshold of the 23rd ASEAN-ChinaSummit slated for November 12 within the framework of the 37th ASEANSummit, Deng said the two sides have been conducting close anti-pandemiccooperation to protect people’s health
“China will continue to assist ASEAN countries toprevail over the pandemic, including by sharing experience, providingmost-needed medical supplies, working together on vaccine R&D, productionand application, building nucleic acid testing laboratories and supporting theCOVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund as well as the ASEAN reserve of emergency medicalsupplies,” he asserted.
According to the diplomat, China and ASEAN have jointly promoted resumption ofwork and production to boost regional growth. China has established “fasttracks” and “green lanes” with Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesiato facilitate the better movement of people and goods and resumed directflights with multiple ASEAN countries.
These endeavors will be conducive to stabilize regional production and supplychains and cultivate new growth models and business forms, thus driving theeconomic growth of regional countries, he stated.
He went on to saythat China and ASEAN have maintained resilient trade ties despite COVID-19.ASEAN has stayed as China’s largest trading partner so far through the year,with two-way trade reaching 481.8 billion USD in the first three quarters,accounting for one seventh of China’s foreign trade in the same period. Chinahas already made 10.7 billion USD of direct investment in ASEAN countries, upby 76.6 percent year-on-year. These figures demonstrate the strong resilienceand full potential of China-ASEAN cooperation.
In addition, China-ASEAN people-to-people exchanges havedeepened mutual understanding. Three virtual Jakarta Forums were held, whereChinese and ASEAN scholars were engaged in in-depth exchanges on China-ASEANrelations and cooperation in East Asia. The first China-ASEAN short videocontest focused on friendship and cooperation and received more than 30,000 entries.The ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship is in sound implementation, with asuccessful online opening ceremony for the autumn semester in October.
Ambassador Dengsaid in the coming time, China will strengthen coordination with ASEAN to adaptto pandemic prevention and control in the long run, further synergisedevelopment strategies and advance cooperation against COVID-19 and on regionaleconomic recovery.
“We will join hands, as always, to champion our Asian values of solidarity andcollaboration, support the ASEAN-centered regional architecture and pursuemultilateralism and win-win cooperation. Together we strive for a closerChina-ASEAN community with a shared future,” he noted.
As next year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations, heexpressed his belief that the joint fight against the virus and cooperation oneconomic recovery will lift China-ASEAN relations to an even higher level./.
VNA
