People's Daily hails trans-Asia Pacific cooperation

The Asia Pacific is big enough for co-development among all parties in the region and a trans-Asia Pacific community of common destiny is in the interest of all those involved, a flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China said.

In a People's Daily editorial to be published Wednesday, the newspaper said contributing to a more prosperous and developed Asia Pacific region, by making its economic activities more dynamic, trade further liberalized, investment more convenient, infrastructure more unobstructed and people-to-people exchanges closer, is in line with the global trend towards peace and development.

As China is expected to undertake deeper reform and wider opening-up in its 13th Five-Year Plan period, the country will play a bigger role in regional economic cooperation, the editorial read.

China has the capability and willingness to provide more to the Asia Pacific and the world at large, it said. A booming China means greater opportunities and interests for the region and the world.

The editorial noted that the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative is part of the country's own efforts to shoulder regional and international responsibilities, and constitutes an effective supplement to the current international system.

The Belt and Road initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, international trade and infrastructure projects proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October of 2013.

Cooperation among countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road will encourage countries to further open up and bring forward greater international exchanges and integration on a much bigger scale, and henceforth provide stronger momentum for economic and social development in the Asia Pacific region, it said. Endi