China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Dao and its adjacent waters, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.
She made the statement in response to a media query about the island.
"Huangyan Dao is an inherent territory of China, and China has indisputable sovereignty over the island and its adjacent waters. Any activities carried out by China on Huangyan Dao, including scientific research, constitute the legitimate rights of a sovereign state," said Mao.
China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Dao, its adjacent waters: spokeswoman
China and ASEAN countries enjoy broad prospects for cooperation, experts said Friday at a salon in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province.
The event, known as "Tides and Voices" organized by the China Media Group (CMG) Chinese Language Programming Center, gathered experts from both sides to speak on an outdoor stage against the backdrop of the open sea.
Yang Xiao, a research fellow at the Institute of Peaceful Development under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, highlighted the complementary strengths of the two sides and the advantages of institutional arrangements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
"In the restructuring process of global industrial chains, China and ASEAN have become highly complementary. China leads in high-end manufacturing and advanced production capacity, while ASEAN boasts strong markets and a robust labor force. Additionally, ASEAN is keen to foster new growth areas in sectors such as the green economy, blue economy and environmental protection. This serves as a solid foundation for China-ASEAN cooperation," Yang said.
"Moreover, China and ASEAN enjoy favorable institutional support, including RCEP, which provides tariff exemptions, and the Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol. Therefore, cooperation between China and most ASEAN countries are now embracing promising development opportunities," he added.
Peter T.C. Chang, a research associate at the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, expressed confidence that China and ASEAN will achieve even greater things in this Asian Century.
"We share common Asian values, a lot of values that we hold. We are a pluralistic society and I think ASEAN and China is the building block of this Asian century," said Chang.
China, ASEAN countries enjoy broad prospects for cooperation: experts
