ASEAN chief hails link with Beijing

MANILA - China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are among today's most important partners, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said on Sunday in the Philippines ahead of the 31st ASEAN Summit and related meetings.

"We have comprehensive strategic cooperation in all three pillars - political security, the economy, society and culture," he said in an interview in Manila. "And we have ambitious targets in the important pillar of economics."

He said ASEAN and China have set a two-way trade target scaled up to $1 trillion and bilateral investment of $150 billion by 2020.

On the prospect of future relations, Le stressed that China and ASEAN share a common position on promoting a multilateral trading system and open policies. That forms the basis for further cooperation, he said.

"We hope that our shared commitment to open regionalism and multilateralism will enhance coordination and cooperation," he said.