Premier Li Keqiang attended the 14th East Asia Summit (EAS) on Nov 4 in Bangkok, calling for efforts from all parties to keep East Asian cooperation on the right track.
Premier Li said in his speech that the EAS should stick to its nature as a leaders-led strategic forum and promote political and security cooperation, social and economic development as well as strategic communication and pragmatic cooperation in a balanced way.
He said the EAS should keep the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the center, stay focused on East Asia and Asia Pacific, and maintain the current regional cooperative structure in order to keep the cooperation on the right track.
Premier Li called on countries to work together to build an open world economy and firmly uphold multilateralism and free trade, so as to forge ahead economic globalization to a direction of openness, inclusiveness, balance and win-win cooperation.
The statement on sustainable partnership to be issued after the meeting is conducive to a more balanced, efficient and sustainable development in the region, Premier Li said, adding that China is willing to enhance cooperation with ASEAN in areas including smart cities, digital economy, AI and e-commerce.
On the nontraditional security cooperation, Premier Li said China will hold a joint anti-terror drill in China this month, and will continue to provide financial support to relevant UN bodies in holding an earthquake emergency exercise in Thailand next month.
On the South China Sea issue, Premier Li said the first reading of the single draft negotiating text of the Code of Conduct (COC) has been completed ahead of schedule, and the second reading has been launched.
Parties concerned are striving for an agreement on the COC by the end of 2021, Premier Li said, calling on all sides to create a favorable environment to this end.
Stressing that freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is out of question, Premier Li said countries within the region have the ability and wisdom to finish the COC talks and safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.
Countries out of the region, which are not the parties concerned to the South China Sea issue, should respect and support the efforts of the intraregional countries, said Premier Li.
