Dynamic China-ASEAN ties

China and ASEAN member states are close neighbors bound by traditional friendship and a shared future. China sees the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as vital to its neighborhood diplomacy and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, which can be gauged from the fact that Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, became the first foreign leader to visit China after the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Xi Jinping, too, chose to visit Southeast Asia on his first foreign trip after being re-elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. Xi attended the 17th G20 Summit and paid a visit to Indonesia from Monday to Thursday before flying to Bangkok to take part in the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting as well as visit Thailand from Thursday to Saturday.

Before that, Premier Li Keqiang attended the 25th China-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting, the ASEAN+3(China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) meeting, and the 17th East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, while also visiting Cambodia.