2017年CRI ASEAN, China aim for stronger ties through Belt and Road Initiative

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AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Community and Corporate¹ Affairs [Photo: Beijing Review]

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN and the 26th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations.

Relationship between China and ASEAN have been steadily² improving. While China has been the largest source of tourists for ASEAN, the number of tourists from ASEAN countries to China has surpassed 10 million last year, an increase of almost 58% than the year before.

Now that relationship is to be further boosted as ASEAN's growth blueprint³, ASEAN 2025, is poised⁴ to jive with China's Belt and Road Initiative.

For more on China-ASEAN cooperation, CRI's Zhao Ying had a conversation with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, who is in Beijing participating a seminar on ASEAN Community Building and China-ASEAN Relations.

Mochtan compared Sino-ASEAN relations to "a red string of fate", and he believes the two side will forge ahead hand-in-hand to realize shared prosperity.

"Not even mountains, not even the oceans separate close friends. While the string of fate supposedly is invisible, now that we have the opportunities with the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN connectivity, if we work out together, the string will be more visible to both of us."