China will work more closely with the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) by setting up a free trade area and deepening
its partnership in finance, infrastructure, information and
communications, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in Manila yesterday.
Foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN members, as well as those from
China, Japan and South Korea, are in the Philippines capital to
attend the annual meeting of what is called ASEAN+3.
The meeting discussed issues of regional concern, including
urging North Korea to give up its nuclear program, and cooperation
in the East Asian region.
"The launch of the ASEAN+3 scheme has created a new channel for
Southeast Asian countries' unity, cooperation and mutual benefit.
It is useful as an experience, too, for regional cooperation in
Asia," Yang said.
Despite the great achievements of the past decade, the region
faces major challenges ahead, including correcting the unbalanced
economic growth, tackling the threats to peace and stability and
the need to enhance competitiveness, Yang said.
Countries in the region should "respect each other and shelve
their differences to seek common ground."
At the start of the meeting, the foreign ministers stood in
silence for two of the 23 abducted South Koreans killed by the
Taliban in Afghanistan. They appealed, on humanitarian grounds, for
the immediate and unconditional release of the 21 hostages.
Yang reached Manila on Monday to attend the 14th Asia Regional
Forum (ARF), the region's largest security meeting, as well as a
series of other talks with ASEAN members and their dialogue
partners.
Yang met with his counterparts from the Philippines, Singapore
and Australia yesterday.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice didn't attend the ARF for
the second time in three years because of "more important"
engagements elsewhere.
"As a large country in Asia, China pays more attention to
regional affairs, while as a global power, the US is distracted by
many other concerns such as safety problems in Northeast Asia and
the Middle East," director of Southeast Asian Studies of the China
Institute of Contemporary International Relations Zhai Kun
said.
He was responding to some foreign experts who have said Rice's
absence could help China build ties and trust in Southeast Asia at
the expense of the US.
"The cooperation between China and ASEAN is not exclusive, and
it's not directed against or achieved at the expense of any
country," Renmin University's professor of international relations
Jin Canrong said.
Trade between China and ASEAN, expanding by nearly 40 percent a
year, is likely to exceed US$200 billion in 2008, two years before
a free trade area is scheduled for.
(China Daily August 1, 2007)
