Wanxiang, October 11th (Xinhua) — Title: Promoting Eastern Wisdom and Building a Better Asia
At the series of East Asian Cooperation Leaders’ Meetings held in Vientiane, Laos, participating countries generally called for strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation and promoting common development, reflecting the political will to promote long-term healthy, stable and prosperous development in the region. Asian countries share a common home, interests, and opportunities, as well as a common pursuit of values. Looking towards the future, countries in the region should further strengthen their Asian consciousness, promote Eastern wisdom, and steadily move towards building a peaceful, prosperous, open and integrated Asia.
The profound and extensive Eastern wisdom provides a continuous source of nutrition and strength for regional countries to jointly face challenges and promote development. Asia has nurtured numerous ancient civilizations and developed unique ways of thinking and understanding through long-term practice. The saying ‘It’s hard to speak with one hand, but it’s easy to rise up with one voice’ guides Asian countries to firmly choose unity and cooperation in the face of risks and challenges; The saying ‘the sea embraces all rivers, tolerance is great’ helps Asian countries pierce through the fog of protectionism and unilateralism, and embark on the path of openness and inclusiveness; Being kind and friendly to neighbors is the treasure of a country. It promotes dialogue among countries to promote understanding, friendship to promote harmony, and peaceful resolution of differences, contradictions, or disputes.
On September 28th, at the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center in Guangxi, consumers were shopping for goods from Thailand. At the 21st China ASEAN Expo held in Nanning, Guangxi, durian, rosewood, biscuits, coffee, Russian beef tendon sausage, Peruvian alpaca plush toys and other products from ASEAN countries became popular and deeply loved by the audience. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Bo’an
With these ideas and beliefs in mind, China has adhered to the principle of mutual benefit and friendship for many years, actively participated in cooperation in various fields among regional countries, and achieved fruitful results. In 2021, both sides officially announced the establishment of the China ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both sides, China ASEAN community of common destiny has taken solid steps, and the high-quality joint construction of the “the Belt and Road” has yielded fruitful results. The China Laos Railway has become the first modern railway in Laos, greatly promoting regional connectivity. The Jakarta Bandung high-speed railway marks Indonesia’s official entry into the era of high-speed rail. The construction of infrastructure such as Cambodia’s Golden Port Expressway, Laos’ Vientiane Vanong Expressway, many modern airports, and ports has greatly enhanced regional transportation capacity and injected new vitality into economic development.
The new quality productivity cooperation between China and ASEAN has a strong momentum and broad prospects. At the 21st China ASEAN Expo held in Nanning, Guangxi recently, China’s leading advantages in green energy, digital economy, especially in new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products attracted a large number of international partners to negotiate and connect. At the China ASEAN (10+1) Leaders’ Meeting, participating countries unanimously agreed to continue deepening cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, agriculture, connectivity, and addressing climate change, and expanding cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, and green economy. The meeting adopted the China ASEAN Joint Statement on Substantially Ending the Negotiation on Upgrading the China ASEAN Free Trade Area Version 3.0. The participating ASEAN countries expressed their willingness to take this opportunity to strengthen the docking with the initiative of jointly building the “the Belt and Road”, continue to promote regional economic integration, build a closer ASEAN China community of shared future, and contribute to maintaining regional peace, stability and prosperity.
On September 28th, the audience selected Malaysian durian at the 21st China ASEAN Expo. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Hua
As one of the most economically active regions in the world, East Asia has a huge population, a strong manufacturing base, and highly developed technological innovation capabilities. Over the years, East Asian cooperation mechanisms including “10+1” and “10+3” have provided a platform for countries in the region to coordinate policies and deepen economic ties. The East Asian region has a strong momentum in trade and investment, financial cooperation, infrastructure construction, and cultural exchanges and cooperation, and its overall competitiveness continues to improve. Faced with the actions of some countries outside the region building “small courtyards and high walls”, engaging in “decoupling and chain breaking”, and forming exclusive small circles, ASEAN countries say “no” to unilateralism and protectionism, explicitly reject “taking sides”, advocate solving problems through dialogue and cooperation, and are committed to promoting regional peace and development. The “ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea (10+3) Leaders’ Meeting on Strengthening Regional Supply Chain Connectivity” adopted this time also reflects that peace, development, cooperation, and win-win are the aspirations of the people in the Asian region.
A better world in Asia is better. China and ASEAN adhere to true multilateralism and open regionalism, injecting strong momentum and confidence into promoting equal and orderly world multipolarity and inclusive economic globalization. As Lao President Thongloun said at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit, promoting cooperation through the “ASEAN approach” is in line with the characteristics of Southeast Asia and is conducive to maintaining and promoting regional and even world peace, stability, and sustainable socio-economic development. Looking ahead to the future, all parties should grasp the correct direction of the development of East Asian mechanisms, promote pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and take the construction of a peaceful, prosperous, beautiful, and friendly Asian homeland to a new level.