On 31 March 2008, Wen Jiabao attended the third Greater Mekong Sub-region
(GMS) Summit in Vientiane, Laos. In his keynote speech, the Chinese
Premier noted that the on-going development in the sub-region is well in line
with the current trend of regionalism and globalism and has significantly
strengthened the economic integration between China and countries in the
Greater Mekong area.1 As a result, Premier Wen assured the GMS countries
that China would reinforce its commitment in the sub-region’s development
programme and help advance the programme into different areas of
cooperation.