On 25 October 2023, H.E. Secretary General Shi Zhongjun of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) met with the visiting H.E. Secretary General Dr. Lee Hee-sup of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) and his delegation at the ACC. Deputy Secretary General Zushi Shuji and Deputy Secretary General Yan Liang of the TCS were present. 

Secretary General Shi warmly welcomed Dr. Lee and his delegation on the latter’s first-ever visit to the ACC, and said that, over the past years, the constructive interaction and beneficial cooperation under the frameworks of ASEAN Plus Three (APT) and China-Japan-ROK (CJK) cooperation mechanisms have played a constructive role in advancing East Asian cooperation and serving common interests of all regional countries. Under the current global circumstances with growing changes and challenges, the regional countries have every reason to garner solidarity, deliver on cooperation and bring about benefits. The ACC looks forward to working more closely with the TCS to render fresh driving force to the APT cooperation, thus helping deliver concrete benefits to the countries and peoples in the region. 

Dr. Lee spoke highly of the achievements by the ACC over the past 12 years as an important platform to deepen ASEAN-China relations and advance regional cooperation, and underlined that, both as inter-governmental organizations co-established in the same year by the APT countries, the TCS and the ACC share not only similar organizational structure, but also common mission to nurture trust, enhance understanding, strengthen friendship and deepen cooperation among the APT countries. The TCS is willing to further enhance communication and coordination with the ACC, explore more possibility to materialize concrete projects, so as to add more strength to the APT, CJK and East Asia cooperation process.