On 5 November 2015, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with Ms. Ni Chao, Deputy Mayor of Xiamen Municipal Government in Xiamen. Mr. Li Xiaoping, Deputy Director-General of Xiamen Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and Mr. Lin Huaiyuan, chief engineer of Xiamen Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries, were present at the meeting.
Secretary-General Yang briefed on ACC’s mandate and work. She said that since its establishment, ACC had been striving to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of ASEAN and China. It had conducted a series of activities to promote ASEAN-China cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, education, culture and tourism, and had borne rich fruits. As a city located at the southeast coast of China, Xiamen and ASEAN were close in geography and had a close and friendly relationship. ACC stood ready to work together with the Xiamen Municipal Government to make full use of Xiamen’s advantages, contributing to the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, so as to elevate ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership to a new height.
Deputy Mayor Ni extended her warm welcome to Secretary-General Yang for her participation in the World Ocean Week in Xiamen, commended ACC’s remarkable achievements in promoting ASEAN-China relations and boosting functional cooperation, and expressed her cordial appreciation to ACC’s kind support for Xiamen’s efforts in cooperating with ASEAN. She remarked that Xiamen was the hometown of many overseas Chinese, who had been playing an important role in the development of both Xiamen and ASEAN-China partnership. Xiamen was willing to strengthen its ties with ACC, make joint efforts to promote the“Belt and Road” initiative, and to create a brand new situation of Xiamen’s cooperation with the outside world.