On the afternoon of May 7, 2018 local time, Premier Li Keqiang met with Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
Li Keqiang expressed that China and the ASEAN are connected by mountains and rivers, and enjoy a shared destiny. China highly values the cooperation with the ASEAN and firmly supports the building of the ASEAN community. China supports the ASEAN's central position in regional cooperation and supports it to play a greater role in building an open and inclusive regional framework. China is willing to take the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership as an opportunity to build a higher-level strategic partnership and a closer community of shared destiny with the ASEAN.
Li Keqiang pointed out that both as developing economies, China and the ASEAN enjoy huge cooperation potential. Under the current economic circumstance of the world, both sides should firmly safeguard multilateralism and free trade, push forward regional cooperation, and promote the negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to obtain substantial progress. China and the ASEAN should continue to view each other's development as an opportunity, uphold the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results and integrate development strategies, in a bid to build a peaceful and friendly common homeland.
Dato Lim Jock Hoi welcomed Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the ASEAN Secretariat, appreciated China's long-term support to the ASEAN integration process, and supported the ASEAN to play a central role in regional affairs. The ASEAN is willing to actively integrate bilateral development strategies, further deepen economic and trade cooperation with China, expand personnel exchanges, jointly safeguard a multilateral trade system on the basis of openness and rules and support signing the RCEP at an early date, so as to bring more well-being to the people of both sides, and contribute to the prosperity and stability in the region and the world.
Xiao Jie and He Lifeng attended the meeting.