The relationship between the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and China was one of the most dynamic and
progressive in the world since the two sides established a dialogue
partnership 15 years ago, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo told Xinhua.
In an interview at the Malacanang Presidential Palace with
Xinhua and other Chinese media, Arroyo said she was excited and
greatly honored to be visiting China later this month to
participate in the celebration of the establishment of the dialogue
partnership between ASEAN and China in China's southwestern city of
Nanning.
Arroyo said that over the past 15 years, the cooperation between
ASEAN and China had expanded from involving only economic and trade
relations to including regional political security and
development.
"I hope that in the next 15 years, we can move forward even
beyond that and that we can promote the ASEAN-China partnership by
promoting confidence-building measures, intensifying interactions,
and allocating more resources for building relations for
cooperation and mutual benefit," she said.
Arroyo said all ASEAN member countries and China had agreed to
fully implement a free trade agreement by 2010, and they had
already begun implementing many agreements ahead of time as an
"early harvest program" by reducing and eliminating trade tariffs
on many products.
She said ASEAN enthusiastically welcomed the expansion of trade
relations with China "because it lessens our traditional dependence
on other markets like the United States and Europe.
"For example, the Philippines has been able to establish a new
market for its electronics, which is our No. 1 export market. We
developed our relations with China just when the US market was
slowing down and China has become our biggest electronic market,"
said the president.
When asked about what ASEAN was doing to promote East Asia
cooperation and about her view on the role and function of
China-ASEAN relations in such cooperation, Arroyo said the
Philippines, as the country currently acting as the chair of ASEAN
this year, would host the 12th ASEAN Summit and the 2nd East Asia
Summit in Cebu in December.
All ASEAN countries will be involved in the East Asia Summit and
"we are the one in the ASEAN who initiated the East Asian
dialogue," said Arroyo. "And because China is very important for
all of the countries in the East Asian Summit, the relationship
between ASEAN and China will play an important role."
On China's role in Asia-Pacific region, Arroyo said as far as
the Philippines was concerned, the development of China was an
opportunity.
"China has given us a very good market, as I mentioned (for
example with) what happened for electronics."
Further commenting on the current relationship between her
country and China, Arroyo described it as "really an all-time high
relationship" which has become "more confident, mature,
comprehensive and substantive".
"We should further deepen our relationship and make it a more
comprehensive relationship, because it involves not only trade,
security, and many other confidence building measures. We should
implement more substantive and concrete projects," she added.
Arroyo said the two nations could deepen their relations in the
fields of infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology,
culture, education, and health and sanitation, and extended the
invitation to China to make investments in the fields of mining and
housing in the Philippines.
"What will be our relationship 15 years from today? With an
improved economy, less poverty and more prosperity, with the world
safer and more secure, let's forge the vision of what the future
will be like in the next generation," she said. "These will be the
subjects of our meetings in Nanning and then in Cebu."
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)