The all-round cooperation between China and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has greatly benefited both sides
and helped maintain stability in the whole region, Vietnamese Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told Xinhua in a recent exclusive
interview.
The China-ASEAN cooperation in trade, investment, security and
other fields has helped the two sides "jointly deal with economic
growth-related risks as well as traditional and non-traditional
security challenges," Dung stated.
"The ties will present many more opportunities for the regional
economic integration process, help make intra-ASEAN economic
linkages broader, deeper and closer, create conditions for ASEAN to
be more economically unified and powerful, and contribute to
regional stability," he added.
"The economic ties have developed quickly and become closer and
closer," the Vietnamese leader said.
According to Dung, China and ASEAN are the fourth biggest
trading partner of each other with their two-way trade reaching
US$143.4 billion between July 2005 and May 2006, up from only
US$527 million in 1975, and China's investment in the 10-member
association surges over 60 percent annually.
A stable China, which keeps high economic growth, will stimulate
the growth of Southeast Asian nations in the future, while its
efforts in forming the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) are
offering both sides huge investment and export opportunities.
China has become the world's biggest recipient of foreign direct
investment. The country's policy on encouraging its enterprises to
invest and partake in tenders abroad has a positive impact on the
economic development of ASEAN members, he said.
"The two sides have defined targets and orientations for
developing their economic ties more deeply and comprehensively,
under which agriculture, informatics, human resources development,
exploitation of the Mekong River basin, and intensification of
investment in markets of each other are key cooperation fields in
the early century ... China and ASEAN have agreed to foster their
cooperation and economic integration, eventually establishing CAFTA
by 2010."
Economic benefits brought about to ASEAN by CAFTA in general and
China's economic development in particular are fairly clear, he
went on to say, stating that CAFTA will be the world's largest free
trade area with over 1.8 billion consumers and gross domestic
product of more than 2.5 trillion dollars.
With regard to trade, CAFTA will create opportunities for ASEAN
to expand its import-export markets of goods and services. The
removal and reduction in import taxes as well as non-tariff
barriers will reduce the bloc's export costs, helping promote
economic growth of ASEAN members.
"In addition, competition pressures from Chinese goods will
drive ASEAN enterprises to perfect themselves, endeavoring to
improve production for more effective operation," the premier
said.
Besides, "CAFTA is of political importance to ASEAN. This free
trade area will help forge cooperative ties and reinforce trust
between ASEAN and China, laying foundations for ensuring regional
peace and cooperation," Dung said, adding that CAFTA would also
help enhance multilateral ties between the bloc and other big
economic partners in the globalization process.
In addition to the closer economic relations, "security
cooperation has been constantly reinforced," he said, noting that
China and ASEAN have shared security viewpoints, taken measures for
enhanced mutual trust, strengthened military exchanges, promoted
bilateral security cooperation, and beefed up cooperation in
anti-terrorism and transnational crimes.
"China's new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual
benefit, equality and cooperation is appreciated by ASEAN," he
said.
"A stable and powerful China will make important contributions
to maintaining peace and bringing about great economic cooperation
opportunities to countries in the region," he stated.
He explained that being economies with interactive features,
both sides have a demand for maintaining peace and security in the
region and the world to prioritize economic development and enhance
international competitiveness.
China and ASEAN should continue to improve economic and
political cooperation mechanisms, both bilaterally and
multilaterally, for the benefit of both sides as well as peace,
stability, cooperation and development in the region, Dung
concluded.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2006)