On 25 November 2021, the 5th East Asia Summit Clean Energy Forum, co-hosted by National Energy Administration of China and the People’s Government of Sichuan Province, was held in Beijing.

The forum took place both online and offline. Mr. Ren Jingdong, Vice Administrator of China’s National Energy Administration, Mr. Chen Shuping, Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province, Mr. Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, ministers of energy from ASEAN Member States (AMS) and representatives from international organisations, including the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the International Renewable Energy Agency, attended the event online. Mr. Chen Dehai, Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), attended upon invitation the offline activities and delivered a speech at the “Special Event of Energy Cooperation at the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations”. More than 50 representatives from Chinese government bodies, trade institutions and energy enterprises attended the forum offline. The event was live-streamed by CCTV.com.

Vice Administrator Ren Jingdong said that East Asia is facing an increasingly prominent problem of energy transformation as the industrialisation and urbanisation further develop. Countries in the region have achieved a common consensus that great efforts should be taken to leverage the trend of global energy development and local advantages to develop clean energy for mutually beneficial and win-win sustainable development. Both ASEAN and China should take the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations as an opportunity to deepen cooperation in the field of energy, promote energy transformation and boost economic growth in the region.

Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi mentioned that AMS are committed to regional economic recovery and energy transformation by implementing the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC). He appreciated China’s efforts in strengthening energy cooperation with ASEAN and offering support to ASEAN’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery through projects of solar energy, renewable electricity and energy.

Ministers of energy from AMS including Brunei, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Thailand expressed their government’ high attention to renewable energy and confidence in achieving economic recovery and the sustainable development goals. They hoped to further strengthen practical cooperation with China in the field of energy, especially clean energy.

Secretary-General Chen Dehai mentioned in his speech that on 22 November 2021, leaders of ASEAN and China jointly announced the establishment of an ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that is meaningful, substantive and mutually beneficial, further upgrading relations between the two sides. Energy cooperation has become an important area of ASEAN-China cooperation on sustainable development. ACC will continue to play a bridging role and make unremitting efforts to promote ASEAN-China practical cooperation and advance the transformation towards green and low-carbon energy.

At the forum, Secretary-General Chen Dehai and the guests jointly attended the launching ceremony of Annual Achievements on ASEAN-China Clean Energy Cooperation and the ASEAN Wind Power Resources & Project Planning Software. They also witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between Dong Thanh 1 Wind Farm and PowerChina as well as the one between China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute and Asian Institute of Technology.

The forum, under the theme of “Boosting Green Recovery with High Proportion of Renewable Energy”, is an important platform for clean energy cooperation under the East Asia Summit mechanism. It has deeply explored ways of regional cooperation to promote sustainable green growth and low-carbon development under the subjects of comprehensive energy, hydropower sustainability and new energy technology from the four perspectives of policy, financing, planning and industry. 

Before the opening ceremony, Secretary-General Chen Dehai toured the exhibition of energy enterprises and exchanged views with other guests.