CHINA is offering US$10 billion in infrastructure loans to Southeast Asian countries, a senior official said yesterday.

    The world’s second-largest economy will also provide aid worth 3.6 billion yuan (US$560 million) to underdeveloped states within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2016, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a news conference during the annual East Asia Summit, which this year was held in Kuala Lumpur.

    Liu did not say which bank would provide the loans.

    ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

    On Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang said on the sidelines of the ongoing ASEAN meetings in the Malaysian capital that the cooperation on a railway linking China and Laos has been advancing smoothly and the foundation stone will soon be laid to start its construction.

    He also mentioned the successful launch of a Lao communication satellite with a Chinese carrier rocket earlier in the day at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

    “I hope that both sides will keep up the momentum to achieve new progress in their economic cooperation zone and in infrastructure construction projects like expressways and railways,” Li said.

    Laos will take the rotating presidency of ASEAN in 2016, and is also a crucial member of the newly established Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework.

    China is ready for better collaboration between countries along the Lancang-Mekong River, Li said.

    The Lancang-Mekong River is a natural waterway link between China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

    During a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Saturday, Li said the two countries should push forward negotiations on the upgrading of their free trade agreement (FTA).

    China encourages Chinese enterprises to participate in infrastructure construction projects in such areas as traffic and post-disaster rebuilding in New Zealand, Li said.

    During a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Li pledged an additional US$14.5 million to fund the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared more than a year ago with 239 people aboard.

    The MH370 disappeared March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. French investigators have identified a washed-up piece of airplane debris found in July on a remote island in the Indian Ocean as part of the Boeing 777.

    Most of the passengers were Chinese. A multinational search has so far cost more than US$120 million.

    (Xinhua)

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