China and ASEAN work together to enhance regional cooperation

According to the website of Singapura's Lianhe Zaobao, China and ASEAN will accelerate consultations on the development of the "Code of Conduct in the South China Sea" this year. Before the start of the new round of consultations, the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chairman-in-Office of ASEAN met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Jakarta on February 22. Qin Gang said that China supports ASEAN's strategic independence, unity and self-reliance, maintains ASEAN's central position and inclusive regional structure, and opposes group politics and camp confrontation.

Vietnam's French daily "Vietnam Post" reported that the China-ASEAN strategic partnership is mutually beneficial, and the cooperation between the two sides has achieved remarkable results in the past 30 years. At the summit marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, the two sides formally announced the establishment of China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, which is conducive to peace, security, stability, prosperity and sustainable development.

Indonesia is a major country in Southeast Asia, and its regional influence cannot be ignored. In recent years, under the strategic blueprint of the two heads of state, China and Indonesia have deeply dovetailed their development strategies, and worked together to cope with risks and challenges. The new pattern of political, economic, cultural and maritime "four-wheel drive" cooperation has continued to deepen, setting a model of shared destiny, joint self-improvement, and solidarity and cooperation for developing countries.

This year, Indonesia holds the rotating presidency of ASEAN, which plays an important leading role in the ASEAN regional agenda. The visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang to Indonesia will not only actively promote the bilateral relations between China and Indonesia, but also have a positive impact on the cooperation process between China and ASEAN.

China and ASEAN countries are linked by mountains and rivers and are close by blood. In 1991, China and ASEAN started the dialogue process and opened the prelude to cooperation. Over the past 30 years, in the face of the historical trend of the deepening development of economic globalization and the profound evolution of the international pattern, both sides have seized the opportunity of the times, jointly maintained regional stability and promoted common development and prosperity. At present, ASEAN is one of the most successful regional cooperation organizations. In the context of the profound evolution of the international and regional situation, ASEAN's status is more important. China took the lead in establishing a strategic partnership with ASEAN, joining the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, negotiating with ASEAN to establish a free trade zone, taking the lead in clearly supporting ASEAN's central position in regional cooperation, and taking the lead in publicly expressing its willingness to sign the protocol to the Treaty on the South-East Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. Among the ASEAN dialogue partnerships, China-ASEAN relations are the most dynamic and fruitful.

At present, the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership enjoys a good momentum of development. In recent years, in practical cooperation such as high-quality co construction of the "the Belt and Road", continuous promotion of the construction of the "Five Homes", acceleration of the FTA 3.0 negotiation process, promotion of the high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, joint efforts to promote the consultation of the "South China Sea Code of Conduct", and continuous hosting of the China ASEAN Expo, China ASEAN bilateral relations have achieved strategic upgrading, cooperation has been deepening, and mutual trust has been growing.

China-ASEAN cooperation is mutually beneficial and dynamic, benefiting 2 billion people in 11 countries on both sides. China-ASEAN cooperation is of benchmark significance to Asia-Pacific cooperation and global economic growth. Second, win-win cooperation and peaceful development; Third, keep watch and help each other, and practice the concept of sincerity and mutual benefit; Fourth, inclusiveness and mutual learning, and jointly build open regionalism. These experiences are the common wealth of China and ASEAN. They have laid the foundation and provided the basis for the development of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides. They should be cherished and persisted for a long time, and should be enriched and developed in new practice.

China firmly supports the maintenance of ASEAN's central position, supports ASEAN's adherence to strategic independence, openness and inclusiveness, and does not choose sides to stand in line, and does not target third parties. China is willing to work with ASEAN to address challenges and jointly resist "decoupling and chain breaking" and "building barriers and walls". In the future, China-ASEAN relations need to do a good job in the following aspects: first, respect each other's core interests, pay attention to the security concerns of both sides, resolve differences through consultation, and reach more consensus on regional cooperation. The second is to coordinate development and security and jointly achieve sustainable development and sustainable security. On the one hand, development is the largest common denominator of China-ASEAN relations, and both sides should consolidate the strategic consensus to promote regional cooperation; On the other hand, the two sides should properly deal with security issues. They should not only negotiate to deal with traditional security issues, including the South China Sea issue, but also jointly deal with non-traditional security issues, including cybercrime, water pollution, terrorism, climate change crisis, disaster relief and other non-traditional security issues. Third, in the face of interference by major powers outside the region, China and ASEAN should grasp the general trend, eliminate interference, share opportunities and create prosperity together, implement the comprehensive strategic partnership and take new steps towards building a closer China-ASEAN community of shared future.