Chinese premier calls for advancing construction of East Asia Economic Community

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends two major multilateral meetings on East Asia cooperation in the Philippine capital, Manila, on Nov 14, 2017. [Photo: english.gov.cn]

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has used the 10+3 session in Manila, which has included ASEAN-member countries, Japan, South Korea and China, to issue a call for an expedited creation of the East Asia Economic Community.

CRI's Xie Cheng has more.

Addressing the 20th ASEAN Plus Three summit, Li Keqiang says East Asia has weathered the storm of two financial crises, becoming one of the world's most dynamic and promising regions concerning development.

"The current world economy is showing a good momentum. Global trade is rebounding. China-Japan and China-South Korea relations are seeing signs of improvement. It presents new opportunities for the ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea 10+3 cooperation."

In 2016, East Asia accounted for 44 percent of the world's economic growth.

However, the Chinese premier also warns of a mixed outlook for the world economic recovery, adding that an East Asian Economic Community can be an effective way to cope with relevant challenges.

"The world economy is in a situation in which coldness still sustains in sudden warmth, and the temperature is unevenly distributed. Anti-globalization and protectionism are on the rise, and hot spot regional issues come up and down, posing challenges to us. I hope that this summit could condense our consensus and send out a positive signal that we firmly support regional integration to advance the construction of an East Asian Economic Community, thus benefiting the regional people as well as the world at large."

Li Keqiang also stresses that the community should be built under two principles, namely putting ASEAN in a central position and sticking to the "ASEAN way", featuring consensus through consultation, openness and inclusiveness, and accommodating each party's comfort level.

He also says it should be established on the basis of ASEAN's cooperative mechanism with China, Japan and South Korea, serving as a useful supplement to other sub-regional frameworks, such as Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the East ASEAN Growth Area.

Meantime, Li Keqiang also calls for speeding up negotiations of the China-Japan-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA).

He says China stands ready to take a more active part in promoting negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, so as to achieve the long-term goal of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

China-Japan-South Korea FTA negotiations were launched in November 2012, with the 12th round held in Tokyo in April.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng