Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on October 8, 2018

       一、应国家主席习近平邀请，挪威王国国王哈拉尔五世将于10月11日至20日对中国进行国事访问。

　　二、应赤道几内亚共和国总统奥比昂邀请，国家主席习近平特使、全国人大常委会副委员长张春贤将赴赤道几内亚首都马拉博出席于10月12日举行的赤道几内亚独立50周年庆典。

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, King Harald V of the Kingdom of Norway will pay a state visit to China from October 11 to 20.

At the invitation of President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhang Chunxian will travel to Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, to attend the 50th independence anniversary of Equatorial Guinea.

　　问：据报道，韩国总统文在寅今天在国务会议上称，习近平主席不久后将访问朝鲜。中方对此有何评论？

　　答：中朝是友好邻邦，双方保持着友好交往的传统，我们相信这一传统会继续保持下去。

　　关于你提到的文在寅总统的表态，目前我没有可以向你提供的情况。

Q: ROK President Moon Jae-in told a cabinet meeting today that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the DPRK soon. What is China's comment?

A: China and the DPRK are friendly neighbors. We have the tradition of maintaining friendly exchanges which we believe will carry on.

As for President Moon Jae-in's statement, I have no information to offer at present.

　　问：今天是中国—东盟建立战略伙伴关系15周年纪念日，请问中方如何看待15年来中国—东盟关系的发展？

　　答：今天在座的有20多位来观摩外交部例行记者会的东盟国家优秀青年代表，我愿借你这个问题首先对他们的到来表示欢迎。

　　15年前，中国和东盟建立了面向和平与繁荣的战略伙伴关系。15年来，中国和东盟政治、经贸、社会和人文等各领域交流合作全面开花结果。2017年中国和东盟贸易额已经突破了5000亿美元，这同2003年双方建立战略伙伴关系时相比增长近6倍；东盟国家在华留学生已近10万人，比15年前增长8倍多。从这些具体事例中我们可以看到，中国和东盟的合作已经实现从量的积累到质的飞跃，给双方近20亿民众带来实实在在的利益。

Q: Today marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership. How do you comment on the current China-ASEAN relations?

A: You may notice that we have twenty-some guests sitting in the back. They are great young people from ASEAN countries on a tour in China. So, with your question we would like to extend our warm welcome to them.

Fifteen years ago, China and ASEAN established the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. Over the course of the past fifteen years, cooperation between China and ASEAN has been blossoming on all fronts, not only politically and economically but also socially, culturally and in people-to-people exchanges. Two-way trade in 2017 exceeded 500 billion dollars, a nearly six-fold increase compared to that of 2003 when the Strategic Partnership was just established. China has almost 100,000 students from ASEAN countries, more than an eight-fold increase compared to that fifteen years ago. These figures demonstrate that China-ASEAN cooperation has realized the remarkable transformation from quantity to quality, delivering tangible benefits to 2 billion people on both sides.