China hopes the 31st China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultation, to be held in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province from Feb. 12 to 14, will advance the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, a foreign ministry spokesperson said in Beijing on Tuesday.

Guo Jiakun told a daily news briefing that China's Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong will lead a delegation to the consultation and co-chair with Dato' Sri Amran Mohamed Zin, ASEAN SOM Leader of Malaysia, country coordinator for ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations and rotating chair of ASEAN for 2025.

Guo said the China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultation is an important annual mechanism of dialogue and cooperation between the foreign affairs departments of China and ASEAN countries.

"We hope that this consultation will be a good opportunity for the two sides to implement the important common understandings reached at the China-ASEAN leaders' meeting, have in-depth discussions on the East Asian cooperation under new circumstances, and exchange views on regional and international issues of common interest to advance the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership," he said.