China, ASEAN to build closer community with shared future: Chinese FM

BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while meeting with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn in Beijing.

The meeting took place ahead of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, slated for Tuesday and Wednesday in Beijing.

Wang noted that China has always taken ASEAN as a high priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and will continue to be a strategic partner that ASEAN can trust and rely on.

China is ready to work with ASEAN to make the China-ASEAN Expo a grand event for all-round and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides, he said.

Kao Kim Hourn said that over the past decade, ASEAN countries have benefited a lot from the Belt and Road Initiative and will continue to actively participate in the initiative.