李克強(qiáng)總理第八屆東亞峰會(huì)講話

H.E. Li Keqiang Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China

Bandar Seri Begawan, 10 October 2013

Your Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam,

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to meet with you at the East Asia Summit (EAS). Over the past eight years since its launch, the EAS has upheld the spirit of openness and inclusiveness in East Asia cooperation. Based in East Asia, the EAS has acquired a significance beyond the region and become an important bridge between East Asia cooperation and Asia-Pacific cooperation. We need to carry forward this tradition, maintain the momentum of peaceful development, create an environment conducive to peaceful development, address major constraints on development and properly manage differences. This will enable all countries in the region to keep their focus on development and given priority to economic growth and better life for the people. Here, I want to make three specific points:

First, we need to enhance strategic cooperation and jointly rise up to challenges. I appreciate our host Brunei for preparing the indicative topics for today’s meeting, namely food and energy security, disaster management and climate change. These issues involve both traditional and non-traditional security. They are having a greater political, economic and social impact around the world. And these are the challenges that require our collective response. In the face of these issues, no country can stay aloof. In future East Asia cooperation, we should pay greater attention to and highlight the above areas, build consensus and work in concert.

China supports the release of a declaration on food security at this year’s EAS. We are willing to strengthen cooperation with relevant countries on earthquake and maritime search and rescue, and will provide disaster information, capacity building and other services to countries in the region. We are prepared to move forward East Asia research and cooperation on climate change and contribute to green and low-carbon development of the region. We stand ready for closer cooperation on public health, human resources and monitoring of regional epidemics. We are ready to actively participate in regional cooperation and provide assistance in various fields as our ability permits. We commend India’s efforts to revive Nalanda University and will sign up to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Nalanda University. We will work with other countries to encourage more cultural and people-to-people exchanges within the EAS framework.

Second, we need to deepen economic cooperation and promote regional integration. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership. Building on our cooperation in the past decade, I proposed at yesterday’s ASEAN-China Summit a “2+7 cooperation framework”, a proposal for wide-ranging, in-depth, high-level and all-round China-ASEAN cooperation in the next decade. China will work with the relevant parties to fully complete negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the end of 2015. China holds the view that regional economic integration should follow the principles of openness, inclusiveness and transparency. There can also be exchanges and interactions between RCEP and TPP, which will be good for both.

Recently, financial markets in some ASEAN countries have experienced fluctuations, which, at one point, affected market confidence and capital flow. As a result, the task of ensuring financial stability and economic security has become all the more pressing. In 1997, China and ASEAN countries worked side by side to withstand the impacts of the Asian financial crisis together and launched the process of East Asia cooperation. In the days ahead, China will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with ASEAN countries and take various means to maintain financial and economic stability in the region, implement macro-economic policies in a coordinated manner and speed up the building of a regional financial safety net. There will be problems on the way forward, but as long as we pursue shared goals and work in unison, no obstacle is insurmountable.

China is a participant and advocate in advancing East Asia cooperation, and has received close attention from the outside on its economic development. As the Chinese economy enters a crucial stage of transformation and upgrading, we will stay committed to deepening reform in all respects, accelerate economic structural adjustment, allow innovation to play a bigger part in economic growth, unlock the potential of domestic demand, market dynamism and the internal driving force of development, raise the quality and efficiency of growth and promote sustained and healthy economic development. The further opening-up of China will bring about new development and market opportunities for regional economic and trade cooperation as well as global economic growth.