28th March 2023 – (Beijing) China’s Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Wang Yi, met with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn on Monday, reiterating China’s commitment to supporting ASEAN’s strategic independence and solidarity for development.
As the largest neighbor of ASEAN, Wang expressed China’s sincere and selfless support for ASEAN’s integration and community building, as well as maintaining the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture. Wang congratulated Kao Kim Hourn on his appointment as ASEAN Secretary-General and appreciated his choice to visit China first.
The two sides plan to join hands in promoting the modernization of over 2 billion people in China and ASEAN, pushing for alignment and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. They aim to build a common homeland with peace, tranquility, prosperity, a beautiful environment, and friendship, and foster a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
Wang Yi called for the maintenance of the environment for peaceful development that has been shaped over the past decades, firmly rejecting the Cold War mentality and any attempt to stoke conflicts between major countries or camp-based confrontation. China and ASEAN hope to jointly maintain regional peace and stability and deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership.
ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said that China is a good neighbor and friend of ASEAN and a reliable long-term cooperative partner. ASEAN is ready to deepen its comprehensive strategic partnership with China, strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, digital economy, and green development, and promote energy transformation, enhance connectivity, and people-to-people exchanges. ASEAN hopes to unleash cooperation potential to further advance the bilateral ties.