Chinese minister to ASEAN

Chinese minister to ASEAN

BEIJING (AFP): Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Wu Yi, who will attend the APEC trade ministers meeting in Jakarta on Thursday, will make official visits to the Philippines and Malaysia, Xinhua said yesterday.

It will be Wu's first visit to any of the three countries since she was appointed foreign trade minister a year ago.

Indonesia is China's second largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with bilateral trade posting a record US$21.4 billion last year.

Sino-Malaysian trade hit $1.8 billion last year, a rise of 21 percent from 1992, while trade with the Philippines totaled a record $495 million in 1993.

According to Chinese officials quoted by the official news agency, China and all three countries complement each other economically and great potential exists for furthering bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Wu is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta Oct. 6 at the head of a Chinese delegation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization (APEC) trade ministers' meeting, which is expected to focus on the agreement reached during the Uruguay round of GATT talks and issues related to regional free trade.