The relations between China and ASEAN have never been as good as they are today, said Chinese premier Wen Jiabao here Monday at the Commenmorative Summit Marking the 15th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations.

Wen said mutual trust is growing in the political field between China and ASEAN and economically, the two sides are moving towards greater integration.

China was the first ASEAN dialogue partner to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and to establish strategic partnership for peace and prosperity with ASEAN, he said, adding that the two sides jointly issued the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

Statistics show that in the 15 years, the trade between the two sides has grown by 15 times, from less than 8 billion U.S. dollars in 1991 to over 130 billion U.S. dollars in 2005.

By the end of 2005, ASEAN countries had set up close to 30,000 investment projects in China, with a total investment of about 40 billion U.S. dollars, he said.

The two sides have also decided to advance bilateral cooperation in all areas in a comprehensive way for the period of 2005 to 2010 and have identified ten priority areas, such as agriculture, information industry, human resources development, mutual investment, Mekong River Basin development, transport, energy, culture, tourism and public health.

To date, all the ten ASEAN countries are now approved destinations for Chinese tourists. In 2005 alone, there were over 6.5 million visits between the two sides, he stressed.

Source: Xinhua