On November 22, 2024, Ambassador Hou Yanqi paid a courtesy call on H.E. San Lwin, the newly appointed Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, exchanging views on ASEAN-China relations, especially cooperation in socio-cultural and people-to-people fields.

Ambassador Hou Yanqi briefed on the outcomes of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the leaders’ meetings on East Asian cooperation attended by Premier Li Qiang, achivements of ASEAN-China socio-cultural and people-to-people cooperation, and the progress of the ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People Exchanges. She stressed that China supports the building of ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and ASEAN Centrality, and hoped that both sides would increase inputs in cultural and people-to-people fields of youth, education, human resources, and disaster management, expand cooperation in emerging fields such as science and technological innovation, digital economy and AI, so as to build a closer ASEAN-China community with a shared future.

Deputy Secretary-General San Lwin spoke positively of the important achievements and good momentum of cooperation between the two sides, and looked forward to the success of ASEAN-China Years of People-to-People Exchanges, the strengthening of practical cooperation in related fields, and the in-depth development of the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.