After Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a series of meetings on East Asia cooperation on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday hailed the positive atmosphere at the meetings and highlighted the importance of mutual trust, solidarity and cooperation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) highly valued the positive progress of China-ASEAN relations.

As this year marks the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, both sides expressed hope of building a higher level of strategic partnership and making joint contributions to promoting regional stability, development and prosperity, said Hua.

Wang attended the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum via video conferences from August 3 to 6.

Vaccine cooperation

Solidarity against COVID-19 was the biggest consensus reached by the foreign ministers at the meetings, Hua said. 

"All parties generally agreed that the most urgent task is to strengthen cooperation on vaccines and improve regional vaccine accessibility and affordability," she noted.

Wang has reiterated China's firm commitment to making vaccines global public goods and China's willingness to work with regional countries to fulfill joint vaccine needs.

Hua noted that many countries had echoed China's position on virus origin tracing, namely that it is a rigorous scientific issue that should be adhered to in a scientific manner and political manipulation should be avoided.

"The origin tracing ought to be launched across the board in multiple places across many countries where early infections were detected. The scientific task should not be politicized, a label should not be attached to the virus, and the original tracing should not be utilized as a tool," Wang has said.

Regional economic recovery

Hua said all parties believe the regional economic recovery is clearly unbalanced and new challenges are emerging.

The spokesperson added that countries in the region should work together, deepen cooperation and improve their crisis response capacity.

At the same time, she said, regional countries should focus on the long term, improve cooperation mechanism, enhance the resilience and vitality of regional cooperation, and maintain the hard-won stability and prosperity.

"China would like to work with ASEAN to build a new pattern of recovery cooperation between the two sides on all fronts, taking the implementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework as the main line, regarding trade and investment cooperation as the basis and seeing the digital economy and green development as new growth points," Wang said at the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting.

South China Sea issue

Hua stressed the East Asia Cooperation Mechanism was not an appropriate venue for discussing the South China Sea issue, but said individual extraterritorial countries insisted on using the platform to exaggerate speculation and make unwarranted smears against China.

Wang elaborated on China's position at the meeting, calling on all parties to adhere to "four respects" (respect the historical facts, laws, consensus and regional countries) on the South China Sea issue and urging non-regional forces to stop interfering.

While warning interference by countries outside the region constituted the biggest threat to peace and stability in the South China Sea, Wang pointed out the situation in the South China Sea is generally stable. He noted freedom of navigation and overflight is protected by law, a result attributable to the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries.

China and ASEAN countries share a common perception and willingness on the South China Sea issue, Hua said, and both look forward to managing differences in a prudent manner and actively promoting cooperation through friendly consultations, and most do not welcome the involvement of foreign forces with ulterior motives.

Jointly address geopolitical confrontation

The region faces the challenge of the resurgence of geopolitics, which jeopardizes the prospects for peaceful and stable regional development, Hua warned.

Wang has pointed out that some powers outside of the region try to promote new regional strategies and incite bloc confrontation, which is very dangerous and should be stopped, Hua noted.

"We should cherish and promote the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation structure…we should work together to ensure that regional cooperation sticks to the healthy and correct direction, takes into account the demands of all parties, accommodates the interests of all parties, promotes common security, and moves toward long-term regional stability," Wang said on Friday at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the 28th ASEAN Regional Forum.

Hua said other foreign ministers echoed China's view and stressed the importance of not engaging in geopolitical confrontation and division, avoiding regional countries being forced to choose sides and being caught in the middle, and the region not becoming a tug-of-war arena for superpower competition.

Principle of non-interference in internal affairs

The East Asia cooperation mechanism is an important platform for regional countries to unite and cooperate, which should focus on development and pragmatic cooperation, Hua said.

Unfortunately, certain countries outside the region have used platform to meddle in the domestic affairs of other countries and seek geopolitical self-interest, she said, adding that this phenomenon also emerged during the meetings.

Wang has stressed that non-interference in internal affairs is an important principle of the UN Charter and a basic norm governing international relations, Hua noted.

The foreign minister has said that all countries are equal and can strengthen exchanges and enhance understanding in the spirit of mutual respect, but they should not impose their likes and dislikes on others, and they should not wantonly meddle in the internal affairs of other countries or even seek their selfish geopolitical agenda under the guise of democracy and human rights.

"Most countries in East Asia have a common past of being bullied by foreign powers. However, in the present era, there should be no more 'lecturers' or 'saviors'. The destiny of each country should lie in the hands of these countries themselves, and the future of the region should be jointly created by all countries in the region," Wang said at Friday's meeting.

Foreign ministers of several countries said that interference in internal affairs not only undermines the sovereignty and security of other countries and intensifies confrontation, but also plunges the mechanism into disagreement and controversy, and diverts cooperation from the theme of development.

The foreign ministers agreed that countries should be wary of using human rights issues to create hatred, and should not politicize them.

(Cover: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the 28th ASEAN Regional Forum via video link, August 6, 2021. /Chinese Foreign Ministry)