China on Saturday pledged infrastructure loans totaling 10 billion US dollars to Southeast Asian countries and proposed railway and production capacity cooperation.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced the financing, which is expected to boost regional connectivity, as he addressed a meeting between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Malaysia.

Li also urged the two sides to speed up talks on upgrading the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to further enhance trade facilitation in order to achieve the benchmark of one trillion dollars in bilateral trade by 2020.

The China-ASEAN FTA, the largest-ever among developing countries, was signed in 2004.

As economic ties have grown closer between the two sides, China and some ASEAN countries remain entangled in territory disputes on the South China Sea.

Li said that his country is willing to quickly conclude the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea with ASEAN countries on the basis of consensus.

China insists that the South China Sea disputes should be settled only by the countries directly involved through negotiation and has been blaming “some countries outside the region” for hyping up the issue and destabilizing the region.

"That is in nobody's interest," said the Chinese premier. "Only by expanding our common interests and seeking common ground can we narrow our differences."

China remains ASEAN's biggest trading partner, while ASEAN is China's third largest trading partner. Bilateral trade reached nearly 400 billion dollars in the first 10 months of this year.

Faced with pressure on growth from both domestic and international fronts, China has been steering the focus of the summit towards economic development, while stressing the important role of a “stable environment.”

In his comment on the ASEAN's economic dynamic, the Chinese premier said that the achievement is attributed to the “peaceful environment” and the governments' “dedication to economic development”.

Li warned that regional conflicts, terrorism, and natural disasters still stand in the way of the area's development, therefore a peaceful and stable environment in the region is the basis for growth.

Meeting his counterparts from India, Australia and Laos, the Chinese premier has also stressed the importance of putting aside differences and focusing on cooperation.

• [Editor:tianyawei]