NANNING: Premier Wen Jiabao has promised China will push forward co-operation
with its Southeast Asian neighbours.
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C) speaks to
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo (not in picture) during their South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) bilateral meeting at the Liyuan Resort in
Nanning, China's southern Guangxi province. Chinese and Southeast Asian
leaders have vowed at a summit in Nanning to speed up creation of a free
trade zone, while also discussing the North Korean nuclear crisis and
regional political concerns.[AFP]
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Wen made the pledge during one-on-one meetings with heads of five members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The
meetings took place ahead of the formal opening of the Commemorative Summit
marking 15 years of China-ASEAN ties in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region.
During talks with Philippines President Gloria Arroyo, whose country holds
the ASEAN presidency, Wen said the countries need to push forward a number of
key projects in agriculture, infrastructure construction and exploration of
mineral resources.
Joint exploration
Wen said China, the Philippines and Viet Nam had worked out plans for more
substantive development in the South China Sea region. He said there has been
progress in joint marine resources exploration in the sea.
Arroyo thanked Wen for China's assistance in agriculture, railways, housing
and disaster relief.
She said Manila would like to expand its fruit exports to China, and called
on the two countries to establish a comprehensive economic partnership at an
early date.
During talks with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien-loong, Wen said China
is ready to push forward the relationship between the two countries in a
sustainable, healthy and stable manner.
Lee said Singapore is willing to expand bilateral co-operation with China and
participate actively in China's economic development.
Lee also hoped to increase co-operation on maritime security.
Energy was the main issue when Wen met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.
Before coming to Nanning, Susilo attended the second Sino-Indonesian energy
forum in Shanghai, during which the two countries signed a memorandum of
understanding on energy and mineral resources co-operation.
Wen said that China and Indonesia could expand the two-way trade in volume
and scale while enhancing co-operation through construction of railways, bridges
and dams in Indonesia. Susilo said he wished to see the bilateral two-way trade
volume reach US$30 billion by 2010.
Gas deal
Co-operation between China and Malaysia showed tangible results, as Wen and
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi unveiled a liquefied natural gas
(LNG) deal.
Under the agreement, the Malaysian state-owned oil firm Petronas will be able
to enter into the China energy market by supplying Shanghai with up to 3.03
millions tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually for 25 years.
Badawi said energy co-operation is the key component of co-operation between
the two countries, and Malaysia is looking forward to signing similar deals in
the future.
China and Cambodia will work to bring bilateral ties to a new level, Wen and
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed during their meeting yesterday. Wen said
China will encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Cambodia to help the
country's sustainable development.
