Wang Yi Meets with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn

On March 27, 2023, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met with Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Kao Kim Hourn in Beijing.

Wang Yi congratulated Kao Kim Hourn on taking office as ASEAN Secretary-General and expressed appreciation for choosing China as the first stop of his visit to non-ASEAN countries. Wang Yi said that as ASEAN’s largest neighboring country, China has always supported ASEAN sincerely and selflessly. China was the first to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the first to establish a strategic partnership with ASEAN, and the first to sign a free trade agreement with ASEAN. By doing so, China has given a boost to other major countries’ efforts to increase input in ASEAN and helped enhance  ASEAN’s international and regional influence significantly. Under the new circumstances, China will continue to firmly support ASEAN integration, ASEAN Community building, ASEAN’s strategic autonomy and its efforts to seek strength through unity. China supports safeguarding the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture. The two sides should join hands to build a modernized Asia and advance the lofty cause of achieving modernization for more than two billion people in China and ASEAN. Efforts should be made to promote synergy and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, build a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home together, and build an even closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. The two sides should safeguard the peaceful environment for development that has been jointly created over the past decades, firmly reject the Cold War mentality, and oppose attempts to create confrontation between major countries and between blocs.

Kao Kim Hourn said that China is a good neighbor, a good friend, and a reliable long-term cooperative partner of ASEAN. The bilateral cooperation enjoys a profound foundation, covers broad areas and has yielded fruitful results. ASEAN is ready to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides, jointly maintain regional peace and stability, strengthen cooperation in such areas as trade and investment, digital economy, and green development, join hands to promote energy transition, enhance connectivity and personnel exchanges, unleash new cooperation potential, and continuously advance China-ASEAN relations.