On 17 December 2023, Secretary General Shi Zhongjun of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) was invited to attend the Seminar on the 10th anniversary of the initiative to jointly build ASEAN-China community of shared future, held at Dezhou University, Shandong Province. Representatives from the academia and youth communities from China and ASEAN countries had an in-depth exchange of views on such topics as building a community of shared future for ASEAN and China, and further strengthening of cooperation between both sides on trade, joint academic research and people-to-people connections. 

SG Shi noted that, with the concerted efforts by ASEAN and China, the past decade has witnessed fruits of cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and steady advancement of ASEAN-China comprehensive strategic partnership, which have laid a solid foundation for building a closer ASEAN-China community of shared future. Looking ahead, apart from securing higher quality development in “hard connectivity”, “soft connectivity” including harmonization of standards, people-to-people exchanges and public mutual understanding should be further enhanced. He also encouraged that universities and think tanks represented by Dezhou University could come up with more research insights for and share more academic wisdom with policy makers, so as to further contribute to the building of ASEAN-China community with a shared future.