Mekong region countries should steer clear of external divisive forces

Premier Li Qiang met with the leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam on Thursday during the eighth Greater Mekong Subregion Summit in Kunming, Yunnan province.

The meeting, held on Wednesday and Thursday, is expected to consolidate consensus on the basis of the previous agreements reached between China and Mekong countries and negotiate measures to promote coordinated socioeconomic development and regional integration. China hopes that in-depth exchanges can help promote cooperation in key areas such as regional connectivity, trade and investment, agriculture and poverty reduction.

In August, China put forward a four-point proposal for regional cooperation in the next stage, from upholding genuine multilateralism and open regionalism, and resisting zero-sum games and "decoupling" and "supply-chain-breaking", to stepping up joint efforts to combat transnational crimes and safeguard regional stability, and improving science, technology and innovation cooperation mechanisms, and strengthening artificial intelligence capacity building to better serve regional countries. It also includes accelerating the building of connectivity networks, maintaining unimpeded production and supply chains, strengthening cooperation on climate change and disaster prevention and reduction, and facilitating personnel exchanges.

All these proposals, aimed at promoting greater regional economic and social development in the Greater Mekong Subregion, are achievable and had good reason to be further confirmed at this meeting in Kunming.

In the first half of this year, the total trade volume between China and Mekong countries exceeded $200 billion, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year, and China has been their leading trading partner for years. The remarkable achievements made by the six countries over the past years, such as in boosting regional inter-connectivity and building economic corridors, prove that closer cooperation is necessary.

Against the backdrop of sluggish global recovery and geopolitical tensions, the need for these countries to strengthen solidarity and cooperation has become more important.

However, not all countries want to see smooth cooperation between China and other countries, and are attempting to drive wedges between them. All countries in the region should be alert to such malicious campaigns and stay committed to their original goal to pursue greater cooperation for regional common development.