Senior diplomat Wang Yi to attend meetings on East Asian cooperation

China will send its senior diplomat Wang Yi to attend a series of foreign ministers' meetings on East Asian cooperation to be held in Indonesia this week, hoping to build up consensus on promoting cooperation, peace and stability in the region.

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will be in Jakarta from Thursday through Friday, for the ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

"China will work with regional countries to practice true multilateralism, advance open regionalism and handle hotspots and sensitive issues properly to keep the region peaceful and stable and make sure that East Asian cooperation will move forward in the right direction," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

He said that China will join regional countries to make good use of the opportunities presented by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to promote the smooth operation of industrial and supply chains in the region.

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the spokesman said China is ready to further carry forward the principles of the treaty and will firmly support the unity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Amid a sluggish global economy and growing conflicts around the world, regional countries are expected to send out a clear call for win-win cooperation and peaceful development at the upcoming occasion, analysts said.

According to Wang, the spokesman, relations between China and regional countries, especially those within the ASEAN, have maintained a good momentum, thus giving a strong impetus to East Asian cooperation as a whole.

The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, a regional macroeconomic surveillance organization, said in a report earlier this year that the region is expected to grow at a faster pace of 4.6 percent in 2023 than in 2022, despite the challenging global environment.

The boost in tourism and intraregional trade from the rebound in China's economy will help mitigate the impact of softer external demand from the United States and Europe, the report said.

Lyu Yaodong, a research fellow with the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that building a peaceful environment for common development is in the interests of all East Asian countries.

"While the US is undermining peace and stability in the region by stepping up its alliances, China has been committed to promoting peace and enhancing economic integration in the region," Lyu said.