BEIJING -- The spotlight fell on Asia-Pacific again Wednesday when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang started a Southeast Asia trip, in the wake of President Xi Jinping's just-concluded tour in the region.

Against the backdrop that the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for developing countries, the dynamic cooperation in East Asia has become ever more important to people around the world.

China always supports the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) leading role in regional cooperation. Meanwhile, due to a mutual need for security and development and its economic strength, the country is undoubtedly also an important leading force in East Asian cooperation with ASEAN as a geographical center.

On the economic front, China and some ASEAN members have not only competed with but also complemented each other.

Working together in broad areas ranging from trade, finance and infrastructure to culture, science and technology, China and ASEAN, as well as other East Asian nations, have continuously made headway in their cooperation.

Facing a sluggish recovery of the world economy, the continuous spillover from developed countries' tapering of monetary easing measures, and rising trade protectionism, cooperation in East Asia has come under great pressure and growth forecasts for China and some ASEAN members have also been cut by the IMF.

However, China and other East Asian nations can learn the lessons of history and turn the pressure into impetus.

As Li put it at the 10th China-ASEAN Expo in the southern Chinese city of Nanning last month, the two sides have not only built a "Golden Decade" over the past 10 years, but have the ability to create a "Diamond Decade" in the future.

Only through pragmatic moves and substantial results, can China's relations with ASEAN and East Asia mature and their cooperation accelerate.

China's economic strength also contributes to its leading role in East Asian cooperation. Peter Drysdale, head of Australia's East Asia Forum, said almost all countries in the region looked forward to becoming a major trade partner of China.

Thanks to the rocketing trade volume between China and ASEAN over the past decade, it is not difficult for the two sides to expand trade to one trillion U.S. dollars by 2020.

In pursuit of peace, development and cooperation, China has led cooperation in the most dynamic region into a new stage.

Chinese leaders' speeches at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and a series of East Asian meetings have demonstrated that China is willing to build mutual political trust with other countries in the region, so as to boost their economic cooperation.

In their view, East Asian cooperation relates not only to the establishment of a community of common destiny in the region, but also to the whole world's stability and prosperity.

Over the past two decades, China has put forward a series of new ideas in promoting regional cooperation.

During the East Asian leaders' meetings in Seri Begawan, Brunei, China is expected to propose a new pattern for cooperation in the region, including a free trade system under a regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP), an Asian currency stability system, an investment and financing cooperation system, and an Asian credit rating system based on the Asian bond market.

The new pattern not only pays attention to immediate substantial results, but also attaches great importance to future benefits.

With deep insight and a blueprint for concrete actions, East Asian cooperation presents an unprecedented opportunity for the region, and shows clear prospects to move from a "Golden Decade" to a "Diamond Decade."