Longtime partners carrying forward the Silk Road spirit

Full text of Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng's keynote speech at the 15th China-ASEAN expo

Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 15th China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit on Wednesday.

The following is the full text of the speech:

Developing a Higher-Level Strategic Partnership between China and ASEAN, Heading for a Closer Community with a Shared Future.

Profound friendship

It gives me much pleasure to meet you all in this beautiful "green city" of Nanning and attend the 15th China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, I would like to extend warm congratulations on the opening of this event, and express a sincere welcome to the participants from ASEAN member states and other countries and regions.

China and ASEAN countries are good neighbors, good friends and good partners with a long-standing friendship. Over 2,000 years ago at the time of China's Han Dynasty, our ancestors overcame the barriers of the ocean and started exchanges by opening the Maritime Silk Road.

China and ASEAN have seen sustained and rapid development in their relations since the 1990s. The two sides announced the establishment of a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity at the seventh China-ASEAN Summit in October 2003, opening a new chapter for China-ASEAN friendly relations. When visiting Indonesia in October 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed China's willingness to work with ASEAN member states to jointly build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, drawing a beautiful blueprint for the development of China-ASEAN relations.

Over the past 15 years since the establishment of the strategic partnership, China and ASEAN have developed a profound friendship and made fruitful achievements in mutually beneficial cooperation. In particular, since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed five years ago, the two sides have carried forward the Silk Road Spirit and advanced more firmly on the path of building a community with a shared future with common ideals, prosperity, and responsibility.

Strategic cooperation has become closer. China has always put ASEAN high on its agenda of diplomacy with neighboring countries and supported the building of the ASEAN Community and ASEAN centrality in regional cooperation. ASEAN members have viewed China as a reliable partner. The two sides have carried out all-dimensional, multilevel, and wide-ranging dialogue and communication, enhanced political trust in each other, focused on cooperation and development, and safeguarded regional peace, development, and prosperity. China-ASEAN relations have stood the test of time, becoming the most successful and vigorous example of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation.

Openness and cooperation have been deepened comprehensively. China started the free trade negotiations first with ASEAN and established the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. ASEAN is a priority and an important partner in the international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for nine years in a row and ASEAN has remained the third largest trading partner of China for seven consecutive years. The total two-way investment between China and ASEAN exceeded $200 billion while more than 4,000 enterprises in ASEAN countries with direct Chinese investment have employed more than 300,000 local people and vigorously contributed to local economic and social development.

Cultural and people-to-people exchanges have flourished. The two sides have successfully held theme year activities on science and technology, culture, ocean, education, and tourism, and launched the China-ASEAN Innovation Year this year. Last year, there were nearly 50 million two-way visits and over 200,000 students studied in each other's universities. China has set up six cultural centers, 33 Confucius Institutes, and 35 Confucius classrooms in ASEAN countries.