On June 7, 2021, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Second Minister of Foreign Affairs Erywan bin Pehin Yusof of Brunei, the rotating chair of ASEAN, in Chongqing City.

Wang Yi welcomed Erywan to attend the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Dialogue Relations in China. He praised Brunei which holds this year's rotating chair of ASEAN for taking an active and key part in promoting the development of China-ASEAN relations and East Asian cooperation and deepening the regional cooperation in combating the pandemic and seeking development.

Wang Yi said, as this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Brunei, the two countries have launched a series of celebrations. China is about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and embark on a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. The neighboring countries, including Brunei, have always been good friends and partners of China in the process of China's development. In this important year, China is willing to carry forward the traditional friendship with Brunei, deepen cooperation in the COVID-19 battle, engage in the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and enable the strategic partnership between China and Brunei to sustain a healthy development momentum.

Noting that both countries recorded positive domestic economic growth and sharply increased bilateral trade volume in spite of virus disruptions, Wang Yi said, this demonstrated the great resilience and complementary advantages of practical cooperation between the two countries. It is important to further play the flagship role of the Guangxi-Brunei Economic Corridor and Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd's oil refinery and petrochemical project, and consolidate the "hub" status of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). It is hoped that both sides will continuously deepen cooperation in energy, local government, 5G, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and big data application, among other fields, and create new growth areas for practical cooperation between the two countries.

Erywan congratulated the CPC on the 100th anniversary of its founding and China on the 50th anniversary of its restoration of the lawful seat at the United Nations, and thanked China for its valuable support for Brunei's fight against the novel coronavirus. Erywan said, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Brunei and China and also the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations. The development of China-ASEAN relations has made ASEAN countries more attractive and competitive. As the rotating chair of ASEAN, Brunei is willing to continue to play an active role, strengthen communication and coordination with China, share China's development experience, and further enhance the quality and level of ASEAN-China cooperation.

Erywan introduced his recent visit to Myanmar. Wang Yi said, on a whole, China and ASEAN share roughly the same stance and views on Myanmar. We are willing to continuously act in coordination with ASEAN and jointly promote all parties in Myanmar to take the interests of the people as their top priority, maintain calm and restraint, and eliminate all types of violence; jointly encourage all parties in Myanmar to conduct political dialogue and drive the shift toward democracy constantly ahead under the constitution and legal framework; jointly provide anti-pandemic assistance to Myanmar to prevent the virus from spreading and getting out of control there; jointly support Myanmar's economic recovery and improvement of people's livelihood to protect the people's rights and interests; and jointly urge all countries to abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter to avoid unilateral sanctions and improper intervention.

Erywan said, ASEAN appreciates and supports China to continue to play an important and constructive role in the Myanmar issue, and is willing to strengthen coordination and launch cooperation with China in the above-mentioned area.