BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here Wednesday that his country looks forward to signing a treaty on good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to steer bilateral relations forward.

Good-neighborliness is a treasure for China-ASEAN cooperation and a baseline to which the two sides should firmly stick, he said at the 16th China-ASEAN leaders' meeting in the Bruneian capital.

China's new leadership, said Li, pays high attention to the 10-member regional bloc, regards ASEAN as a priority in Beijing's diplomacy with neighboring countries, and stands ready to actively discuss with ASEAN members on the signing of a treaty on good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation.

Such a treaty will not only convey their shared confidence and determination to maintain regional peace and stability, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, but provide legal and institutional safeguards for bilateral strategic cooperation to move further forward, he added.