On July 14, 2023 local time, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended the 13th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta.
Wang Yi said that the East Asia Summit is a cooperation mechanism with broad representativeness and significant influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Faced with the profound changes in the current international and regional situation, the East Asia Summit should maintain the hard-won peace and stability in the region. China wishes to put forward a three-point proposition:
First, earnestly support ASEAN centrality and consolidate the foundation of peace. ASEAN centrality is a natural result of historical evolution, and it also embodies the greatest common ground of various parties' positions. Starting things anew is ill-advised, forming exclusive groups finds no support, and NATO's intervention in East Asia defies logic. Regional peace depends on the universal development and common prosperity of countries in the region, and should not be based on a few countries' pursuit of absolute security. China stands ready to explore cooperation on the Global Security Initiative with other parties, and reaffirms its readiness to be the first to sign the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.
Second, join hands to forge a regional growth center and promote common development. It is important to jointly keep to the right direction of economic globalization, uphold the open, free, fair, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system, oppose protectionism, and reject "decoupling and severing supply chains". Continued efforts should be made to build an Asia-Pacific free trade area and foster a regional development environment featuring benign competition and win-win cooperation. China supports Indonesia's initiative to issue a leaders' statement on economic growth, which sends a positive signal of pursuing development in solidarity. China welcomes the common understanding reached at the East Asia Summit on a new plan of action, and stands ready to continue advancing cooperation with other parties in such areas as energy and poverty reduction.
Third, uphold true multilateralism and enhance positive interactions. It is important to uphold the vision of openness and inclusiveness, abandon the binary adversarial mentality, and reject the attempt to split the region into confrontational or exclusive groups. China is ready to work with countries in the region to carry forward the purposes and principles of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, stay committed to peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation, act on true multilateralism, and bring Asia-Pacific cooperation back on the right track.
Prior to the meeting, Wang Yi attended a group meeting hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
On the same day, Wang Yi attended the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting and met respectively with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea Park Jin, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles, among others.
