On July 23, 2003, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who is attending the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held at Bali, Indonesia, met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda, Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart, Japanese Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Shindo Yoshitaka, Foreign Minister Frattini of Italy which now holds the rotating presidency of EU, Tom Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland which is going to take the presidency of EU and Christopher Patten, Commissioner for External Relations of EU.

Li said to Hasan that the Indonesia government had done a great deal of work for the preparation of this ASEM and the Chinese side would go all out to offer support and coordination to make it a success.

On ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting, Li said that it had registered remarkable achievements in the fields of political dialogue, economic and trade cooperation, social and cultural exchanges. He noted that under the current situation, the political dialogue of ASEM should be strengthened and the coordination and cooperation on major international issues should be more frequent. He also noted that the contents of economic and trade cooperation should be enriched to continuously make substantial progress of Asia-European cooperation, and suggested carrying out dialogue among different cultures to promote mutual understanding and exchanges. Li further suggested that related problems of ASEM be appropriately handled and principles of treating each other equally and seeking for common grounds while reserving differences be adhered to, in order to promote Asia-Europe cooperation process.  

On bilateral relations, Li noted that Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea and Japan are all important neighboring countries of China. He said that cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, science and technology, education and tourism had made notable headway and their coordination in regional and international affairs had also fared well. He added that the new Chinese leadership would adhere to the principles of forging friendship and partnership with its neighbors and work with these countries to further push forward bilateral relations.

On DPRK nuclear issue, Li said that China would like to see a nuclear-free, peaceful and stable Korea Peninsula. Noting that the DPRK nuclear issue was at a crucial moment, Li said what was imperative was to maintain the momentum of dialogue and to prevent the issue from getting off the track of political settlement. He added that China stood ready to step up coordination with parties concerned in a bid to peacefully solve the issue through dialogue and to contribute to a Korea Peninsula where durable peace and stability prevailed.

On China-EU relations, Li said such relations were at an important historical moment for further development. China stood ready to further enhance its comprehensive partnership with EU. China would make good preparations for the upcoming 6th ASEM summit meeting in the latter half of this year to ensure its success.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan noted that China had been playing an important role in regional and international affairs, saying that the Indonesian side would join hands with China to develop bilateral ties in a comprehensive manner.

The foreign ministers expressed appreciation for China’s positive contribution to the peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue and emphasized that they agreed with China on its suggestion about peacefully resolving the DPRK nuclear issue through dialogue.

Hasan also expressed its gratitude to the Chinese government for its support for Indonesia’s hosting of the 5th ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting.

The EU Troika foreign ministers said that EU attached importance to its relations with China and was satisfied with the ever-deepening cooperation between EU and China in various fields in the past few years. They said that EU would like to further intensify contacts with China to enhance understanding and augment cooperation, adding that they would work with China to prepare for the upcoming 6th ASEM summit meeting.