Envoys reach consensus on growth, peace

Vaccine disparity opposed

Wang said countries should work together to object to "vaccine nationalism" and prevent vaccine disparity. Vivian praised the two nations' mutual support during the pandemic, and looked forward to further exchanges.

China and Singapore agreed to push all contracting parties to finish domestic approval procedures on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade pact.

Regarding the Myanmar situation, Wang said China supports ASEAN's noninterference principle as well as its approach to facilitate Myanmar's return to order and stability.

As the world is increasingly multipolar, international relations should be democratized, both sides agreed.

Xu Liping, a researcher of Southeast Asian affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China and ASEAN are front-runners in the East Asia region's fight against COVID-19 as a result of their mutual support.

"The four foreign ministers' China visits will help advance two-way collaboration on building the Belt and Road and offset the impact brought by the pandemic," Xu said, adding that the visits are also expected to help nurture constructive consensus and solutions on the Myanmar situation.

China and ASEAN countries should rule out interference by external forces when negotiating the expected text of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and their ever-closer friendship is based on lasting cultural and historical links that are not subject to geopolitical games, Xu added.

On Thursday, Wang met with Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein.

Wang said Beijing and Kuala Lumpur agreed to launch a high-level committee on bilateral cooperation and advance two-way teamwork on vaccines and regional cooperation. They also agreed to promote peace, stability and development in the South China Sea region, further support multilateralism and oppose unilateralism.

On Friday, Wang is expected to meet separately with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L. P. Marsudi and Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin.

In Manila, the first shipment of Chinese vaccines purchased by the Philippine government, which is the first batch of the 25 million doses ordered from leading Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac, arrived on Monday.

"China now is the first and only country to provide vaccines to the Philippines through both donation and commercial procurement," said Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, adding that more vaccines will arrive to further help boost the Philippines' economic recovery.

Rising ties with ROK

At Wang's invitation, Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Chung Euiyong will visit China from Friday to Saturday in his first trip to the country since taking office in February.

Bilateral political relations "have advanced in a close, efficient manner", and two-way trade grew last year despite global economic headwinds, Chinese Ambassador to the ROK Xing Haiming said last week.

From this year to next year, the two nations will hold the "China-ROK Cultural Exchange Year", and next year marks the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.