Excellency Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN,

Excellency Luo Zhaohui, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China,

Excellency Elizabeth Buensuceso, Undersecretary and ASEAN SOM leader, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines,

Excellency Sidharto Suryodipuro, Director General for ASEAN Cooperation and SOM leader, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia,

Excellencies Noel Servigon, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN and other Ambassadors of CPR,

Dear Mr. Jusuf Wanandi, founder of CSIS Indonesia,

Dear colleagues and friends,

A warm welcome to all of you to today’s Jakarta Forum on China-ASEAN Relations. Since the Forum was founded two years ago, eight events were successfully carried out under the Forum’s framework, covering a wide range of topics of shared interest for China and ASEAN, for instance, the Belt and Road Initiative, building a community with a shared future, financial cooperation, joint fight against COVID-19 and regional economic recovery. The forum has now grown into an important platform to promote China-ASEAN relations and East Asian cooperation in the Jakarta Channel. On behalf of the Chinese Mission to ASEAN, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all colleagues and friends for your strong support to the Jakarta Forum!

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. China will organize over 30 activities throughout the whole year to commemorate this milestone year and seize this important opportunity to deepen our relationship. Today’s forum carries special significance, as it kicks off a series of commemorative events of the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN relations in the Jakarta Channel.

A review of China-ASEAN dialogue relations since 1991 always make us full of excitement.

The past 30 years have witnessed many touching moments when China and ASEAN helped each other in trying times. We worked hand in hand to overcome major crises, including the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the SARS in 2003, the bird flu in 2004, and the international financial crisis in 2008. We rendered each other valuable support in responding to the onslaught of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, among other major natural disasters. Every crisis has but brought China and ASEAN closer to each other. At this moment, China and ASEAN are carrying forward our traditional friendship by jointly fighting COVID-19 and promoting regional economic recovery.

The past 30 years have witnessed the unremitting efforts and fruitful outcomes that China and ASEAN made through close cooperation. We have kept pace with the times and kept our mind open to break new ground. China and ASEAN were trailblazers on many fronts. For instance, China was the first dialogue partner to forge a strategic partnership, establish and upgrade the FTA and map out a medium and long-term vision for future relations with ASEAN, thus playing a leading role in ASEAN’s relations with its dialogue partners. Moreover, cooperation mechanisms and platforms between China and ASEAN have kept expanding, with our political mutual trust deepening, connectivity and business cooperation accelerating and people-to-people ties being ever closer. All these have point to the fact that China-ASEAN partnership has grown into the most successful and vibrant model for regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

The past 30 years have witnessed the joint upholding of principles and justice by China and ASEAN. Together we have upheld the spirit of East Asian cooperation featuring mutual respect, consensus-building, openness, inclusiveness, and accommodating the comfort levels of all parties, and promoted the healthy and steady development of the ASEAN-led architecture for regional cooperation. We have opposed protectionism, defended multilateralism, maintained a rule-based free trade system and worked together for the successful signing of the RCEP. We have maintained close coordination on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, APEC, ASEM, to jointly protect the common interests of developing countries.

Colleagues and friends,

There is a well-known Chinese poem that rightfully describes the status of current China-ASEAN relations, which reads like this, “The big river is wide at the full tide and a sail hangs with ease in soft breeze.” As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our dialogue relations, we must not be complacent about what have been achieved and come to a halt. Instead, we need to actively strive for new progress, commit ourselves to taking our strategic partnership to a higher level and contributing more to peace, stability, development and prosperity of our region.

All our guests present here today have been personally involved in the extraordinary journey of China-ASEAN relations and witnessed many historic moments over the past 30 years. The great achievements of China-ASEAN cooperation cannot be made without the concerted efforts of the peoples from all walks of life on both sides. I look forward to hearing the insights from Dato Lim and SOM leaders from China, the Philippines and Indonesia. And I also hope all experts could have in-depth discussions and pool your wisdom on further enhancing China-ASEAN relations.

To conclude, I wish today’s event a full success! Thank you!