Wang expressed his confidence in the prospects for regional cooperation when delivering a keynote speech at a symposium on East Asian cooperation, which opened in Beijing on Thursday.

Wang said East Asia was one of the world's regions with the most robust economic expansion and greatest economic potential; the population in East Asia accounted for one third of the world's total, 25 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and 20 percent of foreign trade volume.

He said cooperation among East Asian countries had flourished, and increasingly boosted sustained and steady economic growth in the region. The 10+3 (ASEAN + China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) cooperation had become the major channel for regional cooperation.

China valued and actively participated in cooperation with other East Asian countries, striving to broaden the process of 10+3 and 10+1 (ASEAN + China), he said.

He noted that China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had agreed to set up the world's biggest free trade zone within ten years, and smooth cooperation between China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) had been realized within the 10+3 framework.

Wang expressed his confidence in the bright prospects for East Asian cooperation. Given their great disparity in social systems, history, culture and religious belief, the countries in the region should blaze a pragmatic and feasible trail of cooperation.

With "10+3" as the main channel, the nations should gradually promote their reciprocal cooperation in all spheres and establish a perfect framework for regional trade and investment, so that material, personnel, technology and information could freely circulate in the whole region, Wang said.

He urged East Asian countries to utilize their own advantages, such as the capital and technology advantages of Japan and ROK and market and resources advantages of China and ASEAN, and combine them for a win-win result.

He pointed out the necessity for coordination among China, Japan and ROK on supporting "10+3" and ASEAN integration, adding that ASEAN should continue to play its core role in the process.

East Asian cooperation should support the sustainable development of less developed countries, and set an example for regional south-north and south-south cooperation to achieve a balanced development in East Asia, he said.

He urged East Asia to have more contact with other trans-regional cooperation mechanisms like APEC and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) so that they complemented each other.

He said short-term planning and long-term objectives were both needed for cooperation among countries in East Asia.

The symposium, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, attracted experts and academics from 13 East Asian countries.

(People's Daily August 23, 2002)