Consolidate cooperation

This week's series of foreign ministers meetings, which are being held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, should be an opportunity to deepen mutual trust, expand common ground, promote cooperation and consolidate the development momentum of the area.

The meetings under the frameworks of 10+1 (ASEAN plus China), 10+3 (ASEAN plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea), the East Asia Forum and the ASEAN Regional Forum have become important venues to discuss major regional issues between ASEAN and its partners from inside and outside the region.

It is expected that a number of key documents will be signed including the Statement on the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone - the result of 12 years' negotiations - which will have a significant bearing on security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cooperation in East Asia has produced impressive achievements in the past two decades thanks to the common desire to expand the convergence of interests in various fields.

To enhance their collective capacity to cope with the challenges resulting from the fragile global economy and to rally around the ambitious goal of realizing the ASEAN community by 2015, participants at this week's ASEAN meetings have every reason to strengthen partnerships and send a strong message of greater cooperation.

A close neighbor with a long tradition of friendship with ASEAN countries, China welcomes the association playing an active role in regional affairs.

China-ASEAN interaction has become a cornerstone of development and stability in East Asia. The founding of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2010 has brought real benefits to one-third of the world's population and lifted trade liberalization in the region to an unprecedented level. This in turn has contributed to greater regional integration.

Given that the trade volume between China and ASEAN increased to $360 billion in 2011 after decades of efforts, it caters to the interests of both sides to build on this good momentum and further tap the potential in trade and other fields.

China expects the ASEAN meetings to broaden mutual trust and inject new vitality into the relationship between China and the regional organization so that the two can better contribute to peace and development in the region and beyond.

Asia-Pacific countries have benefited from years of peace and stability, which have not come easily and should be cherished by all parties.

(China Daily 07/10/2012 page8)