Beijing, 6 Jun (Zhongxin Net) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin presided over a regular news conference on 15 June.
A reporter asked: This year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the 10th anniversary of the proposal to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. How do the speakers assess the role of the Belt and Road Initiative in building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future?
Wang Wenbin: In the past 10 years since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, it has driven nearly trillion US dollars of investment worldwide, formed more than 3000,42 cooperation projects, and created 4000,<> jobs for countries along the route, and the World Bank has calculated that the "Belt and Road" will help nearly <> million people around the world lift themselves out of poverty in the medium and long term. ASEAN countries are located at the intersection of land and sea of the "Belt and Road" and are the priority direction and key region for high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". China and ASEAN countries have made frequent successes in their cooperation in building the "Belt and Road", and they have always accelerated on the fast track.
In January this year, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville expressway in Cambodia opened to more than one million vehicles, shortening the journey time from more than five hours to two hours. In addition, since the opening of the China-Laos Railway for 1 months, it has shown a booming trend of both passengers and cargo, sending a total of 5.2 million passengers and 18 million tons of goods, and the role of the "golden transportation channel" has become increasingly prominent. The Yawan high-speed railway is about to be completed and put into operation, and major projects such as the new international land-sea trade channel, the China-Thailand railway, and the Malaysian East Coast Railway are also progressing smoothly. Road and port connections between China and Southeast Asian countries are more convenient, and people-to-people ties are closer.
Last year, with the help of the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, China's trade volume with ASEAN countries exceeded 6.52 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, making each other's largest trading partners for three consecutive years. In the first five months of this year, ASEAN maintained its position as China's largest trading partner, with the total import and export volume of the two sides reaching 5.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 59.9% year-on-year. China-ASEAN trade has shown strong resilience and development momentum, effectively promoted regional economic integration and the stability and smoothness of global industrial chain and supply chain, and injected new impetus into global and regional economic recovery.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping's proposal to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. We are willing to continue to deepen the docking of the Belt and Road Initiative with the ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan 2025, consolidate the good momentum of bilateral cooperation, jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality, achieve a higher level of connectivity, make the cake of win-win cooperation between China and ASEAN bigger and bigger, continuously deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership, and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. (End)