The relationship of China and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) has entered the best period in history, said a
Vietnamese scholar in a recent interview with Xinhua.
Since the establishment of a dialogue partnership in 1996, China
and the ASEAN have expanded and deepen their relations through the
cooperative mechanism like ASEAN+3 leaders meetings, East Asia
Summit, and APEC meetings, said Do Tien Sam, director of Vietnam's
Institute for Chinese Studies.
Do said that China's activeness in beefing up relations with the
bloc is indispensable to the current good relationship.
He noted that after the Asian financial crisis, China took the
responsibility of keeping its currency undepreciated, which
contributed to the stabilization and development of regional
economy.
In 2003, China joined the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in
Southeast Asia as first outsider of the grouping.
China-ASEAN relations are based on their enhanced political
trust which has laid foundation for their cooperation in economy
and other fields, Do said.
As a result, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN has
increased rapidly. In the past 15 years, bilateral trade increased
by 15 times, or 20 percent annually. In 2006, the two-way trade
reached US$160.8 billion and the figure is expected to reach US$190
billion in 2007.
By July 2006, ASEAN countries' investment in China had totaled
US$39.95 billion. In the meantime, China's investment in ASEAN
countries also increased rapidly. Currently, China is the largest
investor in Cambodia and Laos.
The building of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) has also
gained substantial results via such projects as the Early Harvest
Program. Since July 2005, tariffs on more than 7,000 categories of
commodities made in ASEAN countries have been cut when they were
exported to China.
China and ASEAN have defined 10 major fields, including
agriculture, manpower development, the Mekong River exploitation,
transport, energy, culture and tourism, as the direction for future
cooperation, he said.
Do said that the China-ASEAN FTA, covering a population of 1.8
billion and enjoying gross domestic product of US$2 trillion, is
the largest FTA built by developing countries. The two parts should
take the advantage of the development opportunity and deepen their
economic cooperation to contribute to the peace, stabilization and
prosperity of the region.
Founded 40 years ago, ASEAN now groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2007)
