On 6 August 2017, during the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings/ Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs) in Manila, the Philippines, foreign ministers or their representatives of China and 10 ASEAN Member States attended the Signing Ceremony of the revised edition of Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing the ASEAN-China Centre between the Governments of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Government of the People’s Republic of China. H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) witnessed the ceremony.

At the ceremony, H.E. Mr. Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China, and foreign ministers or their representatives of ten ASEAN Member States signed on the English and Chinese versions of the said MoU, after which, H.E. Mr. Wang Yi and H.E. Mr. Manuel Antonio J. Teehankee, Undersecretary and representative of Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, handed the signed MoU to H.E. Mr. Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN. All parties hoped that ACC could make even greater contributions to deepening the cooperation between ASEAN and China.

The earlier MoU signed in Hua Hin, Thailand, on 25 October 2009, set the roles, missions, objectives, activities and organisational structure of ACC. This MoU signed in Manila is revised based on the development of ASEAN-China relations and operations of ACC, which further clarifies that ACC is a one-stop information and activities centre to promote ASEAN-China cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, education, culture, and information and media with active involvement of the private sector. The revised MoU shall automatically supersede the earlier MoU after all parties’ completion of their internal legal procedures for the entry into force of this MoU.