President Jiang Zemin Friday called for "closer regional cooperation with Asian characteristics" to meet the challenges facing Asian countries and to speed up their development.
"(Such) cooperation will help Asian countries further expand their markets and use their resources more extensively, promote a rational development of world multipolarization and economic globalization, and contribute to greater peace and prosperity in the world," said Jiang during the opening session of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank.
In his speech, the Chinese president suggested, to strengthen regional cooperation, concerted efforts should be made for a political environment of mutual understanding and good neighborliness.
He also emphasized the importance of equal consultation and reciprocity to give full expression to the equal rights and common interests of all parties in such cooperation.
Due to wide differences in national conditions, development levels and cultures, it is only recently that cooperation among Asian countries has gathered momentum. Although this is a positive sign, experts believe cooperation in the continent needs to start from the sub-regional level to be most effective.
"Rather than an obstacle to regional cooperation, this (difference among Asian countries) will make stronger Asian cooperation all the more meaningful," said Jiang during Friday's speech.
However, he also joined many experts by suggesting that the region's cooperation could be based on the existing cooperative mechanisms, and the exploration for new ways of cooperation centering on closer sub-regional cooperation should go first and then be followed by effective approaches to Asian cooperation.
Jiang added Asian economies should continue to pursue open regionalism so Asian cooperation will provide the world's other regions with fresh development opportunities while tapping the development potential within the region.
The president's call for enhanced cooperation also extended to the global arena, in particular as the world is undergoing "deep" changes but still dominated by "the unfair and inequitable old international political and economic order."
For enhanced international cooperation, Jiang repeated his call for multipolarization and the democratized international relations featuring equal competition, reciprocal cooperation, peaceful coexistence and common prosperity, as well as decisions on internal affairs by a country's own people and consultations in international affairs by the countries involved.
He also urged for efforts for the establishment of a new world economic order. He stressed the need for reform of the current international financial and trade regimes, suggesting new ones should encourage an orderly and equitable flow of various economic factors and ensure the equal rights of development of all countries, particularly developing countries.
Jiang also asked for an increase in assistance to developing countries and the enhanced role of international development agencies in transferring resources to promote a more rational distribution of the gains of globalization.
Suggesting the diversity in human civilization should be fully respected, Jiang added that countries at different stages of development should conduct exchanges and friendly cooperation as equal partners and on the basis of mutual respect.
(China Daily May 11, 2002)
