Full text of Zhang Gaoli's speech at China-ASEAN Expo, Business and Investment Summit(2)

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

This year marks the beginning of the second decade of China-ASEAN strategic partnership. Our relations are at a new historical starting point. The Chinese government will, as always, attach great importance to advancing friendship and cooperation with ASEAN. While staying committed to forging friendship and partnership with our neighbors, we will develop our relations with ASEAN under the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness". China will continue to give priority to ASEAN in its neighborhood diplomacy, support ASEAN's growth and its endeavor to build the ASEAN Community, and support the centrality of ASEAN in regional cooperation. We are ready to work hand in hand with ASEAN for a sound, stable and dynamic China-ASEAN relationship.

China, now engaged in deepening comprehensive reform and opening wider to the outside world, is working towards the Chinese dream of the great renewal of the Chinese nation. ASEAN, as a thriving organization of developing countries, is also moving towards its goal of building the ASEAN Community by 2015. We share similar development goals. We both give priority to growing our economies and improving people's livelihood so as to build an even brighter future. Since the beginning of this year, China's economy has been within a proper range, with major indicators meeting our expectations for the year. In the first half of 2014, our GDP grew at 7.4%, leading major economies in the world. Such a growth rate is conducive to China's effort in adjusting economic structure and improving the quality and performance of economic growth, and to the steady recovery of world economy as well. In the coming five years, China will import more than US$10 trillion worth of goods. Our outbound direct investment will exceed US$500 billion. Our outbound tourists will be over 500 million. The sustained and sound growth of Chinese economy will continue to drive world economic growth and bring more benefits to the people of ASEAN countries.

China is committed to the path of peaceful development and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. China is ready to join hands with all the other countries to pursue, uphold and share peace so that we will be able to live in amity and enjoy common development. The peace and stability of the South China Sea concerns regional development and prosperity and the wellbeing of the people, hence serving the common interests of all the countries in the region. China firmly upholds its territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests and national security. At the same time, we are committed to peacefully solving disputes with countries directly concerned through consultations and negotiations on the basis of respect for history and international law. China is ready to work with ASEAN countries to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in a comprehensive and effective manner, actively advance the consultation on a code of conduct in the South China Sea, enhance dialogue and communication, promote practical cooperation, remove various disruptions and build the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

During his visit to some ASEAN countries last October, President Xi Jinping made the proposal of building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the China-ASEAN Community of shared destiny through the joint efforts of China and ASEAN. This forward-looking proposal is aimed at building on historical inheritance and embracing the trend of the times. It is a major strategic vision that meets the shared aspiration of China and ASEAN for common development, and charts the course for the future growth of China-ASEAN relations. The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is a road for win-win cooperation based on common development and prosperity. It is also a road of peace and friendship based on deeper mutual understanding and trust and stronger all-round exchanges. It will surely create, for both sides, more converging interests and new areas for growth, and identify new converging points in our strategic partnership. Premier Li Keqiang put forward a "2+7 cooperation framework" at the China-ASEAN summit last year, which consists of two points of consensus and seven areas of cooperation. He highlighted the priorities of China-ASEAN cooperation and outlined its blueprint, further boosting our relations and cooperation in all areas. We need to work, in an inclusive and open spirit, to enhance solidarity and cooperation and actively implement the consensus reached by our leaders by facilitating policy communication, road connectivity, unimpeded trade, monetary circulation and understanding between our people, so as to strive for a splendid new future of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

To this end, I would like to make a six-point proposal.

First, work hard to deepen political mutual trust. Political mutual trust underpins and guarantees the sustained, sound and steady growth of China-ASEAN relations. Among ASEAN's dialogue partners, China was the first to establish a strategic partnership with it. China is also willing to be the first to conclude a treaty with ASEAN countries on good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, so as to provide legal and institutional guarantee for lasting friendship between our two sides. In order to step up high-level exchanges and increase mutual understanding and mutual trust, China proposes that an informal meeting among Chinese and ASEAN leaders be held in China on an irregular basis in conjunction with the China-ASEAN Expo and the Boao Forum for Asia, so that the two sides may strengthen communication on the development of their relations and issues of shared interest, enhance mutual understanding, and promote cooperation.

Second, work hard to improve the quality and performance of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA). Trade and investment facilitation is a priority for the development of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Improving the quality and performance of CAFTA will not only enhance business exchanges between the two sides, but also lay the foundation for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other regional free trade arrangements. We welcome the official launch of negotiation between the two sides on upgrading CAFTA and suggest that a working plan for the next stage be determined as soon as possible. We should open the market wider, reduce tariffs, carry out a new round of negotiation on service trade commitments, sign cooperation agreements on small and medium enterprises (SME), energy, the environment and sustainable development, and deepen economic, trade and investment cooperation so as to realize the goals of elevating bilateral trade volume to US$500 billion by 2015 and US$1 trillion by 2020. We support Chinese enterprises in conducting investment cooperation in ASEAN countries and will continue to support the establishment of industrial zones and economic and trade cooperation zones in ASEAN countries, and we welcome efforts of ASEAN countries to set up industrial parks in China as well. Projects such as the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park and the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city have set good examples for the cooperation between China and ASEAN countries. We must ensure the success of the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park and the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park and build them into exemplary models for China-ASEAN industrial cooperation. China is also willing to discuss with ASEAN countries about establishing cross-border economic cooperation zones in border areas, so as to make the border areas a bond that integrates the interests of the two sides.