The foreign ministers of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered on Monday for a Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Dialogue Relations.

The meeting in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality was co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Teodoro Locsin, Foreign Secretary of the Philippines that serves as the current country coordinator for ASEAN-China relations. Also in attendance was the ASEAN Secretary-General.

Wang said that over the past 30 years, China-ASEAN relations have developed by leaps and bounds, releasing vigorous vitality and covering a broad area.

The two sides have pursued harmony and win-win cooperation and have built an important pillar for regional peace and stability, forged a powerful engine for development and prosperity, and established the most successful example of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation, Wang said.

The two sides have established dialogue mechanisms at various levels between leaders, ministers and senior officials to conduct timely strategic communication on major issues, thus laying a solid foundation for the development of relations, Wang said.

Trade volume between China and ASEAN jumped from less than 8 billion U.S. dollars to 684.6 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of more than 80 times. The personnel exchanges have exceeded 65 million in 2019, and there are nearly 4,500 flights between China and Southeast Asia every week. Meanwhile, the two sides have exchanged more than 200,000 students and formed more than 200 pairs of sister cities, according to Wang.