Anning, August 15 (AseanAll) — On August 15, 2025, the tenth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Anning, Yunnan, China. After the meeting, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa met the press together.
Wang Yi said that the tenth LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting had just concluded successfully. Ten years ago, the first LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Yunnan, China, where the six countries jointly sowed the seeds of cooperation. Wang Yi said, "Returning to Yunnan ten years later, we are pleased to see that the LMC has grown into a towering tree." Drinking from the same river, people in this region share a closely linked future. The achievements of LMC are tangible and evident to all.
Over the past decade, the six countries have promoted the LMC culture featuring equality, sincerity, mutual assistance and kinship, acted in the Lancang-Mekong spirit of development first, equal consultation, pragmatism and efficiency, and openness and inclusiveness, and advanced cooperation in the three major pillars and five priority areas, creating the Lancang-Mekong speed featuring progress and results delivered daily, monthly and annually.
Over the past decade, China and the five Mekong countries have continuously deepened their strategic mutual trust, and have all been committed to building bilateral communities with a shared future. China and the five Mekong countries have clarified the overarching goal of building a Lancang-Mekong community with a shared future, and have become good neighbors, friends, and partners who trust each other.
Over the past decade, the building of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Economic Development Belt has made a smooth start. Trade between China and the five Mekong countries has reached 437 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 125 percent. Both hard and soft connectivity of regional infrastructure have been strengthened, industrial and supply chain cooperation has deepened, and the Innovation Corridor has become a new highlight of development.
Over the past decade, the people of the six Lancang-Mekong countries have grown closer. The "Lancang-Mekong Visas" have made exchanges more convenient. The 991 "small yet beautiful" projects supported by the LMC Special Fund have benefited the people of the six countries. The six countries have supported each other, worked together to respond to natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, deepened law enforcement and security cooperation, jointly combated cross-border crimes, protected the people's lives and health, and safeguarded regional peace.
Wang Yi pointed out that the six Lancang-Mekong countries, as a natural community with a shared future, have gained invaluable experience from a decade of cooperation. In the face of multiple international and regional challenges, the key to the robust growth of the LMC lies in adherence to four principles: first, uphold good-neighborliness, friendship and a shared future; second, focus on development and pragmatic cooperation; third, ensure benefits for the people and remain open and inclusive; fourth, pursue innovation as the driving force and implement pilot projects.
Wang Yi stated that the next decade of LMC holds promising prospects. Standing at a new starting point, the six countries will strive to build an "LMC 2.0" characterized by unity and cooperation, openness and win-win outcomes, green innovation, and peace and tranquility, jointly opening a new golden decade of LMC and accelerating the building of a Lancang-Mekong community with a shared future of peace and prosperity.
Wang Yi said that all parties will work with united efforts and determined endeavor, refrain from being "talk shops", strive to act as "bulldozers", work hard to write a new chapter in LMC, and jointly build a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home, making new and greater contributions to the building of a neighborhood community with a shared future.
