国内英语新闻:China sends strong signal of cooperation, unity at EAS: expert

China's increasing amount of investment in the region has also, on the one hand, created large numbers of jobs, and on the other hand, contributed greatly to their social and political stability, he said.

He added that according to a number of Premier Wen's statements during the past two days, China would further enhance such strong ties while taking into account the needs of the ASEAN members.

However, the strained China-Japan relations suffered further setbacks during the ASEAN-related summits as the Japanese made untrue statements about the content of a meeting between Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers, which ruined the atmosphere for leaders and prevented the two sides from holding talks in the Vietnamese capital.

Qin also said some Japanese politicians continued to make irresponsible remarks, violating China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and pushing bilateral ties into a predicament.

To put China-Japan ties back on the right track, Japan should face up to its history and take effective measures to remove this obstacle in bilateral relations, said Qin.

He said a healthy and stable Sino-Japanese tie was in accordance with the common aspirations of the two peoples, while the tension between the two countries would cast a negative influence on the entire region.

Also at the summit, the 10-member ASEAN group announced its decision on Friday to formally invite leaders of Russia and the United States to participate in the annual East Asia Summit (EAS) beginning in 2011, which increased the EAS participants to 18 countries.

The next EAS will draw leaders from ten ASEAN members and eight dialogue partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.

Qin said, as a strategic forum "led by leaders," the EAS was an open platform for vital world powers to push forward regional peace and development.

The ASEAN-related summits included a number of different dialogue mechanisms, such as the summit between China and ASEAN (10+1), the summit between ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) and the summit of China, Japan and South Korea.

The next key issue for ASEAN is continuing to coordinate the various existing mechanisms and give full play to their roles.

China has always supported the integration process of ASEAN and the leadership of the bloc in the regional cooperation of East Asia, he added.

Speaking of U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton's East Asia policy speech which stressed American leadership in the region, Qin said the remarks confirmed that the United States would definitely make a "comeback" in Asia.

"China has always upheld an open regional policy and welcome the United States to be a part of regional issues by showing a positive attitude," he said, adding "This would benefit regional peace, stability and development."

"Despite that, China also has to be fully prepared for some potential negativities," he said.