The friendship between China and Timor Leste has a long history. The earliest written record of "Timor" in the world can be found in the historical records of the Southern Song Dynasty of China in 1225. As early as the 14th century, Chinese people had crossed the oceans to East Timor, and Chinese people had settled here in the 16th century. By the 1970s, the total number of East Chinese and overseas Chinese reached more than 25000. They gradually integrated into the local society, established the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese School, built the Temple of Guan Di and the Chinese Cemetery, etc., and became one of the most important groups of overseas Chinese in East Timor.

Since the 1970s, the East Timorese people have resisted foreign occupation and fought for national independence. China has always supported the cause of East Timor's independence morally. In 2002, East Timor regained its independence, and China became the first country to establish diplomatic relations with East Timor. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 17 years ago, the political mutual trust between the two countries has been continuously strengthened, mutually beneficial and practical cooperation in various fields has been comprehensively promoted, and the Middle East relations have maintained a good momentum of development. After East Asia regained its independence, China attached great importance to its relations with East Asia, actively developed mutually beneficial cooperation and provided assistance to East Asia within its capacity. Successive Eastern governments have pursued a friendly policy towards China, adhered to the one China principle, and provided firm support on China's core concerns. The two countries have always maintained good cooperation on multilateral occasions. In 2014, the Middle East relations were officially upgraded to a comprehensive cooperative partnership featuring good neighborliness, friendship, mutual trust and mutual benefit.

The prospect of economic and trade cooperation in the Middle East is broad, and China has become a major trade partner and labor service partner in the East for many years in a row. More and more Chinese enterprises have come to the East to invest and start business, and have set foot in infrastructure, agriculture, trade and other fields. At present, there are about 20 large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises engaged in contracting projects in East China. Among them, the "One Network", "One Road" and "One Port" projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises are eye-catching, that is, the East State Grid project has entered the operation and maintenance stage, the first expressway in the East - Su'ai Expressway Phase I project has been officially opened to traffic in November 2018, and the Tiba Port project is under construction.

There are many highlights in people to people and cultural exchanges between the two countries, and cooperation in medical care, education, people's livelihood, local exchanges and other fields has been deepening. China has actively carried out medical cooperation with East Asia. In the past 15 years, it has sent eight batches of medical teams to provide medical services for nearly 300000 people in East Asia, and donated more than $1 million in drugs, medical equipment, etc. China has actively provided government scholarships and human resources training to East Asia. So far, about 160 East Asian students have obtained degrees in China, and more than 2000 East Asian government officials and technicians have received various trainings from China. Hunan Province and Manatuto District signed a sister province agreement in April this year, and Dili City is negotiating with Macao and Shenzhen to conclude sister city agreements.

Today, the Middle East has jointly built the "Belt and Road" to open up a new world for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. In May 2017, former Eastern President, former Prime Minister and then Minister of Planning and Strategic Cooperation Xanana led a delegation to the first "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum and signed a memorandum of understanding with China on "Belt and Road" cooperation. In April this year, Xanana again led a delegation to the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation as the chief negotiator of eastern maritime boundary affairs. In recent years, East Asia has actively implemented its national development strategy and promoted economic diversification, which is highly consistent with our "Belt and Road" construction. Both sides actively seek to expand and deepen practical cooperation in various fields to achieve more mutual benefit and win-win results. The Middle East economic and trade cooperation has a promising future.

Timor Leste is currently the only Southeast Asian country that has not joined ASEAN. East China intends to join ASEAN after its independence is restored, and successive governments have regarded it as a diplomatic priority. In 2011, Timor Leste formally applied to join ASEAN. As a good neighbor, good friend and good partner of Timor Leste, China supports Timor Leste's accession to ASEAN and is willing to provide assistance to Timor Leste within its capacity in human resources training, facilities improvement and other aspects. China believes that Timor Leste's accession to ASEAN will help build a higher level of China ASEAN strategic partnership and jointly lead the process of regional development and cooperation. In the future, the two sides will continue to work together to push the development of Middle East relations to a new level.

(The author is the Chinese ambassador to East Timor)