Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R, front) is welcomed upon his arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Nov. 20, 2015. Li arrived here Friday for a series of leaders' meetings on East Asian cooperation and an official visit to Malaysia. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Friday for a series of leaders' meetings on East Asian cooperation and an official visit to Malaysia.[Special coverage]
During his four-day stay in the Southeast Asian country, Li is scheduled to attend the 18th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting, the 18th ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) leaders' meeting and the 10th East Asia Summit before paying his first official visit to Malaysia as the Chinese premier.
Li said upon his arrival that China and countries of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have linked destinies, shared interests and feelings.
He expected to discuss on topics such as promoting regional development, building consensus of cooperation, jointly safeguarding regional peace, stability and prosperity and creating stable economic growth with other leaders at the meetings.
The premier also said that he looks forward to having an in-depth exchange of views with Malaysian leaders on deepening the China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership and lift bilateral practical and mutually beneficial cooperation to a new level.
MAJOR CORNERSTONE
China was the first country to establish a strategic partnership with ASEAN, and the first non-ASEAN signatory to ink the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.
Seven out of the 10 ASEAN members are continental or maritime neighbors of China as close trade and economic ties have also linked the two prominent economies in the region.
Statistics show that China remains ASEAN's biggest trading partner while ASEAN is China's third largest trading partner. Their bilateral trade in the first 10 months of this year reached nearly 400 billion U.S. dollars.
An ASEAN community, which is expected to take shape by the end of this year, will be the first sub-regional community in Asia. Li called the event "a milestone in the regional integration."
China hopes the coming meetings in Malaysia will push forward negotiations on the upgrading of the China-ASEAN free trade area (FTA), promote the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), speed up the construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and boost East Asia's economic growth against the backdrop of a global slowdown.
The China-ASEAN FTA is the largest among developing countries. The two sides are striving to finish negotiations on the upgrade before the end of this year.
