On 15 February 2017, H.E.Mme.Yang Xiuping,Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) met with Mr. Wan Jianzhong, Deputy Secretary General of the government of Qingdao. Ms. Gao Qun, Deputy Director of Qingdao Foreign affairs Office and Ma Jun, Division Director of Shandong Foreign Affairs Office and other officials attended the meeting.

Secretary-General Wan Jianzhong welcomed Secretary-General Yang’s visit to Qingdao. He said that in recent years, Qingdao has been actively implementing the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative, continuously expanding cooperation with foreign countries, and taking new strides into the process of constructing modern international city and achieving fruitful results. Qingdao expedited its pace in promoting its cooperation with ASEAN in the areas of trade, investment, education, culture, tourism, and maritime cooperation. Some major projects are still developing in an in-depth and comprehensive manner. With the strong support of all parties, East Asia Maritime Cooperation Platform and two ASEAN-China Education and Training Centres had been settled in Qingdao, which injected new confidence and motivation for the cooperation between Qingdao and ASEAN countries, as well as other East Asian countries. Mr. Wan Jianzhong hoped that ACC could continue to assist Qingdao government to play a more important role in ASEAN-China cooperation.

Secretary-General Yang spoke highly of the achievements of Qingdao-ASEAN cooperation, and gave a brief introduction of the development of ASEAN - China relations and ACC’s efforts in promoting friendly communication and cooperation between the two sides. She said that Qingdao is an international port city, which has abundant marine resources and huge cooperation potential with ASEAN countries. 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN, as well as ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation Year. The bilateral relations between ASEAN and China has created new opportunities. ACC would like to keep close communication with Qingdao, and support it to expand friendly exchanges with ASEAN so as to achieve a mutual benefit and win-win result.