Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) lauded the "positive developments" in ASEAN-China relations in economic, political and security areas, a government statement said in Manila on Tuesday.[Special coverage]
"The leaders welcomed the positive developments in ASEAN-China dialogue relations in three areas of cooperation, namely, political-security, economic, and socio-cultural or people-to-people exchanges," read the Philippine foreign department statement.
In the 20th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting held here on Monday, China proposed the formulation of a vision for strategic partnership between China and ASEAN toward the year 2030 to upgrade cooperation. The vision will upgrade the China-ASEAN cooperation framework from 2+7 to 3+X.
The "2+7" refers to a cooperation framework proposed by China in 2013 at a meeting with ASEAN leaders in Brunei, which emphasizes a two-point political consensus, namely enhancing strategic trust and promoting economic cooperation, and seven cooperation fields including trade facilitation, interconnectivity and security exchanges, among others.
The 3+X, using the letter X in math to represent the unknown, means China-ASEAN will touch many fields while focusing on three pillars -- political security, economy and trade, and people-to-people exchange.
On Monday, China and the 10 ASEAN members announced to start consultations on text of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.
The leaders also issued statements on deepening cooperation in anti-corruption, tourism, and infrastructure connectivity.
The ASEAN-China dialogue relationship was established in 1991 and elevated to a strategic partnership in 2003.
Established in 1967, ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
