Xi urges Asian nations to work together for mutual benefit
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Xi Jinping has vowed to further free up China’s economy, again urging Asian countries to work closely together in a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Vietnam.
Xi said his government would continue to prioritize domestic employment and ensure economic development at home “supports job creation.”
“China will open still wider and its development will deliver even greater benefits to the rest of the world,” Xi told APEC leaders.
China has created 13 million new jobs in cities and towns in recent years, Xi said.
“Economic restructuring does not have to come at the expense of employment,” Xi added. “On the contrary, stable employment would allow greater leeway for reform and development.”
In his keynote speech at the meeting in Vietnam’s central port city of Da Nang, Xi also said healthy and stable development of relations between China and its neighboring countries would bring peace and stability to the region and the world at large.
He outlined what he said were pragmatic ways to achieve common development by furthering economic globalization, fostering an open economy, and promoting trade and investment liberalization.
“We need to take determined steps toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific in line with the agreed roadmap, and herald a new round of development in the Asia-Pacific in the course of opening-up,” Xi said.
During his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Xi said the two countries shared broad common interests in promoting economic and social progress, and in realizing regional peace, stability and prosperity.
Xi said friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation had been the main theme of China-South Korea diplomatic relations since they were forged 25 years ago.
Both sides need to respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, maintain mutual political trust, and enhance communication and coordination, he said.
Xi reiterated China’s stance on the issue of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the US anti-missile system, stressing that the two sides should take an attitude that is responsible to history, to bilateral ties and to both peoples, and make decisions that can stand the test of history.
He said China sincerely hopes for the best for the peninsula, and encourages South Korea to resume contact and dialogue with North Korea.
China is willing to maintain communication with South Korea on promoting peace, stability and talks, as well as avoiding conflict on the peninsula, Xi said.
At his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Xi called on the two countries to speed up the alignment of their development initiatives — the Belt and Road initiative and Vietnam’s Two Corridors and One Economic Circle plan — and deepen cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, finance, production capacity and infrastructure construction.
He also called for more dynamic people-to-people exchanges between Beijing and Hanoi to promote mutual understanding and friendship.
He suggested China and Vietnam should properly deal with divergences to ensure relations always move in the right direction.
Meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Xi said that for China and Japan, as neighbors and major economies, a stable development of their relationship was in the interests of both sides and also an important influence on the region and the world at large.
The two sides should grasp the general direction of peace, friendship and cooperation, and work to keep bilateral relations improving and developing, Xi said.
Xi urged Japan to take more “practical actions” to improve ties with China and properly manage differences in a “constructive way.”
“To improve China-Japan ties, the key is mutual trust,” Xi said.
Meeting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Xi stressed that bilateral relations had seen healthy and stable development, bringing tangible benefits to both and contributing to the region’s peace and stability.
Xi witnessed the signing of a bilateral deal with his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, on upgrading the free trade agreement between the two countries, China’s first FTA upgrade completed with a Latin American country.
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