Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (3rd R) poses for a group photo with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (3rd L), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (2nd R), Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong (2nd L), Vice President of Myanmar Sai Mauk Kham (1st R), and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh (1st L) before the 1st Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, March 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Tao)
The second Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) forum leaders's meeting will kick off in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Wednesday, with the aim of building a community of shared future of peace and prosperity.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend the meeting under the theme "Our River of Peace of Sustainable Development." The river refers to the Lancang-Mekong River.
Originating from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in southwest China, the river is called the Lancang River in China and the Mekong River as it flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the sea.
More than 326 million people live along the 4,880-km-long waterway, which flows through an area of more than 795,000 square km.
Like the Lancang-Mekong River, the common mission and ideals that bind the six countries together have forged a common destiny for them.
CONSENSUS TO BUILD A COMMUNITY OF SHARED FUTURE
"Sanya Declaration determined the goal of building a community of shared future of peace and prosperity, which was reaffirmed in the joint press communique of the third LMC foreign ministers' meeting in December," said Hu Zhengyue, vice president of China Public Diplomacy Association and former Chinese assistant minister of foreign affairs.
Sanya Declaration was issued after the first LMC leaders' meeting held in Sanya City in south China's Hainan Province in March 2016.
China has proposed building a community with a shared future for mankind and the LMC cooperation mechanism can be a "good starting point" and a "demostration area" to implement the concept, Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of China Institute of International Studies, told Xinhua.
The six countries - China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam -- are closely inter-connected because they are nourished by the same river, Ruan said, adding that they have very similar development concepts and a lot in common in inter-connectivity, water resources, agriculture and technology.
The six nations have very deep traditional friendship with innate advantages, solid basis, strong willingness and great potential for cooperation, and a have common goal to build a community of shared future of peace and prosperity, said Huang Xilian, deputy director-general of the Department of Asian Affairs under the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
"This is why from the very start the Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism has gained great importance attached by and extensive support from the governments and peoples of the six countries," Huang said.
LANCANG-MEKONG EFFICIENCY WITH BRIGHT PROSPECTS
The LMC has achieved fruitful results since its inception in 2016. It has demonstrated a Lancang-Mekong speed and efficiency.
On mechanism construction, the LMC has formed dialogue mechanisms at different levels. It so far has held one leaders' meeting, three foreign ministers' meetings and five senior officials' meetings, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou told a recent news briefing.
On regional cooperation projects, most of the 45 early harvest projects identified at the first LMC leaders' meeting and the 13 initiatives put forward by China at the second LMC foreign ministers' meeting have been completed or made substantive progress, reads the joint press communique of the third LMC foreign ministers' meeting held in Dali City of southwest China's Yunnan Province on Dec. 15.
