Major political figures have gathered for a series of events taking place on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bangkok. China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi jointly chaired a meeting between China and the ASEAN nations. CGTN's Martin Lowe reports.

The fallout from the US-China trade war and tensions in the South China Sea – key issues on the table when China and the 10 countries of ASEAN held a joint ministerial meeting. China says it wants to strengthen maritime cooperation in Southeast Asia, jointly uphold regional peace and complete negotiations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea. 

Trade is dominating events taking place this week around the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting. Many ASEAN countries are suppliers to China and have seen their exports fall as China's sales to the US have reduced. 

China is ASEAN's largest trading partner and ASEAN has overtaken the US to become China's second-largest trading partner. Two-way trade is worth around 580 billion US dollars a year.

WANG YI CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER "We should work together to uphold multilateralism, which both China and ASEAN believe is in accordance with our common interests. We should continue to advocate openness and inclusiveness in our cooperation."

The two sides also launched the China-ASEAN Young Leaders' Scholarship Program, to promote academic exchanges between China and Southeast Asian states. The scheme will provide funding for ASEAN students to pursue higher education opportunities in China. ASEAN consists of 10 Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei.

MARTIN LOWE BANGKOK "China is playing a major part in this week-long summit, which will see 31 countries taking part in around a hundred different meetings. It's one of the region's key political exchanges of the year. Martin Lowe, CGTN, Bangkok."