President: Region should leverage its pivotal position

President Xi Jinping has urged the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to fully tap its resources and strengths to promote the coastal area's high-quality development and continuously expand opening to both the domestic and international markets.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour of Guangxi from Thursday to Friday.

It was the third time since 2012 that Xi visited Guangxi, a frontier and window of China's opening-up and cooperation with the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

When Xi visited the China-ASEAN Information Harbor Co Ltd in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi, on Thursday, he said the development of the information harbor, which was launched in 2015 in order to build a digital Silk Road between China and ASEAN, is important in promoting Belt and Road cooperation and enhancing connectivity between China and ASEAN countries.

Guangxi should take a proactive role and leverage its pivotal position to strengthen the development and application of informatization, injecting new momentum into China-ASEAN cooperation, he said.

The president's inspection tour came directly after he concluded a state visit to Vietnam on Wednesday and reached an agreement with the Vietnamese side to build a China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

Xi said the building of the bilateral community will further benefit the opening-up and development of Guangxi, which borders Vietnam, and bring a bright future to the region.

Vietnam has been Guangxi's largest trading partner since 1999, with bilateral imports and exports in the first 11 months of this year reaching 222.97 billion yuan ($31.33 billion), representing year-on-year growth of 31 percent, according to Nanning Customs.