On July 23, 2010, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi attended the foreign ministers’ meeting of the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Hanoi, Vietnam and delivered a speech.
Yang said that the Asia-Pacific region is stable in general and peace, development and cooperation remain the mainstream. Asia has taken the lead in recovery. Relations among big powers are generally stable. Emerging markets maintain the momentum of development. ASEAN community construction and East Asia cooperation move forward. Dialogue and cooperation of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the ARF are being strengthened. On the other hand, unstable and uncertain factors are increasing. The foundation of world economic recovery is weak and various forms of protectionism are clearly on the rise. The situation on Korean Peninsula becomes more complex because of the “Tian An” incident and the resumption of six-party talks is interfered. The South Asia situation, especially the security situation of Afghanistan is not optimistic and there is still a long way to go to eradicate threats of terrorism. Non-traditional security issues are interwoven, influencing stability and development of the region.
He noted that practices of handling regional difficult and hot-spot issues and maintaining peace and stability provided a lot of inspiration. Firstly, we should focus on the overall situation and always give top priority to maintaining regional peace and stability under a complicated and sensitive situation; secondly, we should practice the new type of security concept, seek cooperation instead of confrontation and respect and take care of each other’s core interest and security concerns; thirdly, we should respect each other, increase strategic mutual trust and improve and develop long-term, healthy and stable country-to-country relations; fourthly, we should value harmony, keep calm, exercise restraint and solve disputes between countries peacefully; fifthly, we should promote common interest and security through multilateral cooperation and continue to give play to the unique role of such mechanisms as the SCO, the ARF and the six-party talks.
He elaborated the views, position and proposition of the Chinese side on the situation of Korean Peninsula and South Asia and the South China Sea issue.
He indicated that the Chinese side believes the ARF should strengthen efforts in the following aspects:
Firstly, the following effective principles should be pursued, such as equal dialogue, non-interference in internal affairs, reaching consensus through consultations and taking care of each other’s comfort; secondly, in response to the problem of lack of political mutual trust among some countries, the ARF should continue to focus on building trust and increase mutual trust through security policy dialogue in order to lay down a solid foundation of cooperation; thirdly, it is key to carry out pragmatic cooperation and preventative diplomacy in such non-traditional security fields as anti-terrorism, disaster relief, non-proliferation and maritime security; fourthly, continuous improvement of work should be made and cooperation efficiency and effectiveness should be enhanced through strengthening contacts of the ARF with track II and other organizations, external publicity and other measures.