On November 28, 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao who was in Vientiane, the capital city of the Laos, to attend the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) and China, Japan and Korea (10+3) Leaders' Meeting and other meetings, and to pay a formal visit to the Laos, met respectively with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia.
When meeting with Susilo, Wen pointed out China-Indonesia strategic partnership is a new form of international relationship with "non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting to the third party" which is featured by "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination" and aimed at promoting world peace, stability and prosperity. We attach importance to the position and role of Indonesia in international and regional issues and would like to work with the Indonesian side to promote China-ASEAN relations, enhance the solidarity and cooperation between developing countries and strengthen collaboration in the United Nations affairs. As for economic and trade cooperation, Wen said the two sides need to further expand trade, try to surpass the threshold of USD 20 billion, and intensify cooperation in agriculture, energy and infrastructure construction.
Susilo indicated that the consensus reached between Indonesia and China on the establishment of strategic partnership is an event of important and long-term importance and the Indonesian side will actively discuss with the Chinese side how to implement the consensus. He agreed with Wen upon his suggestions on bilateral economic and trade cooperation, saying that there are bright prospects for the two countries to cooperate in economy, trade and investment and that he expects enhanced bilateral cooperation to benefit both peoples.
When meeting with Lee, Wen said strengthening China-Singapore friendly cooperation is in the interests of both peoples and is also conducive to the promotion of peace, stability and development of the region. The Chinese side has noted with delight that the Singaporean side has expressed its adherence to the one-China policy and opposition to "Taiwan independence" on a number of occasions, which has laid an even more solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations. Wen positively appraised bilateral economic and trade relations. He said a good momentum has been witnessed in economic and trade cooperation between China and Singapore. Both countries have stressed the combination of bilateral economic and trade cooperation with their own development strategies, which is a prevailing feature of China-Singapore economic and trade cooperation. The two countries successfully held the first meeting of the joint committee on bilateral cooperation this year and bilateral cooperation in a number of priority areas has witnessed a very good start. We hope to see further development of China-Singapore cooperation.
Lee agreed with Wen upon his views on bilateral relations and indicated that the Singaporean side would make continuous efforts to promote bilateral relations. He said Singapore-China economic and trade cooperation is two-way and multi-dimensional with both economic, trade and investment exchanges and cooperation in human resources training and management. He noted that China and ASEAN are moving in the right direction to build a free trade area and Singapore-China relations will also witness further development in this process. The two countries need to constantly deepen and expand mutually beneficial cooperation.
When meeting with Badawi, Wen said China-Malaysia relations have entered a new period of mature and all-round development. We would to make joint efforts with Malaysia to maintain the good momentum of development in bilateral relations and to boost bilateral cooperation in various fields. As for the South China Sea issue, Wen said the Chinese side has been consistently holding that the dispute over the South China Sea should be addressed in the spirit of "putting side disputes and seeking joint development". This complies with the principle of the Declaration of Action by Various Parties Concerning the South China Sea and is also conducive to the peace and development of the sea. We would like to conduct discussions with the Malaysian side on the channels and means of joint development in the disputed waters of the South China Sea on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
Badawi said the smooth development of Malaysia-China relations is delighting. In particular, remarkable achievements have been made in bilateral economic and trade cooperation and the business communities of the two countries have established very good cooperative relations. Malaysia would like to seek new means and channels for economic and trade cooperation through launching of bilateral joint committee and holding seminars among the business communities of the two countries. Badawi expressed his understanding to Wen's principles on the joint development of disputed waters in the South China Sea, saying that the Malaysian side would like to conduct discussions with China on this issue. Badawi also noted that practice proves that China's development is no threat to ASEAN. On the contrary, ASEAN and the world at large will benefit from China's prosperity.