Foreign Minister Wang Yi is taking part in a Lancang-Mekong River dialogue in Beijing.

Wang told the press that the Southeast Asian countries along the Mekong River are significant partners in China’s “One Belt One Road” program. He said that China will work with Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on forging a “community of shared destiny” from the perspectives of political security, trade and living standards.

The “Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, or “One Belt and One Road” for short, is a development strategy put forward by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The “One Belt” initiative will improve China’s links with Europe through Central and Western Asia, while the “One Road” program represents a maritime route through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa.