Update: China's top diplomat to chair 10th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, will chair the tenth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Anning, Yunnan Province, from August 14 to 15, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced on Wednesday.

The spokesperson said the LMC is an innovative type of regional cooperation mechanism among China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam featuring collaboration, consultation and shared benefit.

Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the six countries, the Mekong countries have successively announced with China the building of a community with a shared future, which means that countries in the region have all been committed to building a community with a shared future both bilaterally and multilaterally under the LMC mechanism, the spokesperson said.

"Connectivity across land, sea, air and the cyberspace has been enhanced, cross-border trade, investment, and industrial and supply chain cooperation continued to deepen, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges have flourished, fostering ever-closer bonds among our peoples," the spokesperson said.

The six countries have cultivated the Lancang-Mekong spirit of development first, equal consultation, practicality and high efficiency, and openness and inclusiveness, and worked together to build a Lancang-Mekong home that shares weal and woe in solidarity, according to the spokesperson.

Noting this year marks the 10th anniversary of the LMC mechanism, the spokesperson said all Lancang-Mekong countries are now at a crucial stage of accelerated development.

Facing a volatile international landscape and the rise of unilateralism, hegemony and protectionism, the Lancang-Mekong countries need to strengthen unity, enhance cooperation, and promote common development, the spokesperson said.

China hopes to work with the Mekong countries at the LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting to review the outcomes of cooperation, take stock of success experience, and plan for future development of the mechanism, so as to build a more resilient Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt and an even closer Lancang-Mekong community with a shared future, providing greater stability and new driving forces for improving the well-being of people and promoting sustainable development in the region, according to the spokesperson.

On the sidelines of the LMC meeting, as proposed by Thailand, the co-chair of the LMC, the Informal Discussion Between the Foreign Ministers of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand will be held for an in-depth exchange of views on the regional situation, jointly combating cross-border crimes and other issues of mutual interest and concern, the spokesperson said. ■