On October 7, 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council attended the 7thsummit of ASEAN and China, Japan and ROK (10+3) held in Bali, Indonesia.
The leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries, Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and ROK President Roh Moo-hyun also attended the summit chaired by Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri. The leaders discussed the direction of the future development of 10+3 and explored ways to enhance the cooperation among their countries in various fields in a friendly and frank atmosphere.
Wen delivered a speech titled "Composing A New Chapter for East Asia Cooperation" at the meeting. In the speech, he hailed the establishment and development of the 10+3 cooperation as a major pioneering undertaking by East Asian countries for the sake of their common prosperity amidst economic globalization. He noted that over the past six years, the 10+3 cooperation had been fleshed up bit by bit, and transformed itself from a mere dialogue meeting to a full-fledged cooperative system, adding that the contents of cooperation had expanded from the original financial, economic and trade fields to political, social and security areas.
Wen pointed out that to intensify regional economic cooperation conformed to the requirements of East Asian development and was the way to go for East Asian economy. He noted that thanks to years of efforts, 10+3 had provided an effective mechanism for deeper East Asia cooperation and gradual regional economic integration over time, adding that it was necessary to identify long-term goals for 10+3 and promote better and more pragmatic cooperation upon the existing basis. He stressed that deepening 10+3 cooperation should abide by the principles of negotiating on an equal footing, stressing on mutual benefit and win-win result, progressing in an incremental manner, and openness and inclusivenss.
He also proposed that ASEAN members and China, Japan and ROK start to improve and substantiate 10+3 cooperation in four areas so as to bring the East Asia cooperation to a new high. Specifically, he proposed to study feasibility of East Asian Free Trade Area; to promote East Asian financial cooperation, to gradually realize the variety of bilateral currency exchange network on the basis of the ChiangMai Initiative, to gradually implement the initial consensus reached by 10+3 on building an Asian bond market and to explore the possibility of establishing a regional investment cooperation entity; to strengthen political and security dialogue and conduct security cooperation in unconventional areas so as to jointly safeguard the peaceful development environment that has not come by easily; and to expand social, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation and establish new 10+3 cooperation mechanisms pertaining to public health, youth exchange, education, culture and science and technology.
He stated that a prosperous ASEAN was an important prerequisite in the future development of 10+3, adding that China would continue to support, through concrete actions, ASEAN's integration and its unique and important role in various regional and international cooperation mechanisms, including 10+3.
Last but not least, Wen said China highly valued good-neighborly relations and would continue to follow the principle of befriending and partnering with our neighbors and work for better regional cooperation and more vigorous and fruitful exchanges and interactions with the neighboring countries.
On the very evening, President Megawati gave a bouquet in honor of the ASEAN leaders and Chinese, Japanese and ROK leaders.