UPGRADING CHINA-ASEAN RELATIONS FOR A NEW ERA

By Yang Xiuping

The year 2018 coincides with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN strategic partnership, which is building on its historic past to open an even brighter future. Over the past 15 years, China and ASEAN have steadfastly insisted on developing relations characterized by mutual respect and win-win cooperation while combating risks and challenges together. Countries throughout the region have stood tall together through thick and thin, leading pragmatic cooperation between China and ASEAN to fruitful results in various fields.

China-ASEAN cooperation has become one of the most successful and dynamic examples of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has expressed that the importance of cooperation between China and ASEAN transcends the bilateral scope and has increasingly become the support and engine for maintaining regional peace and stability as well as promoting common prosperity in the region.

Today, the development of China, countries in ASEAN and the bloc itself, as well as China-ASEAN relations, is poised at a new starting point. This year not only marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, it is also the beginning of the second 50 years of ASEAN. China-ASEAN relations have evolved and matured, and the two sides will jointly upgrade their relations in this new era featuring rare historic opportunities and promising prospects.

Clear Objectives

In 2013, which was the 10th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN strategic partnership,Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Indonesia and delivered an important speech at the People’s Representative Council of Indonesia. President Xi proposed jointly building a closer China-ASEAN community of shared future, and to that end, he urged both sides to focus their efforts on building trust and develop good-neighborliness, working for win-win cooperation, standing together and assisting each other,enhancing mutual understanding and friendship, and adhering to openness and inclusiveness.

Yang Xiuping, former Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Center and China’sfirst resident Ambassador to ASEAN.

The drive to build a close-knit China-ASEAN community of shared future is a practical example of China’s push to construct a community of shared future for mankind with neighboring countries and will complement other programs in the ASEAN Community and East Asian Economic Community, fueling the development of China-ASEAN relations in the future.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the ASEAN Secretariat this May and expressed that China is eager to build a closer community of shared future with ASEAN.China is committed to remaining ASEAN’s partner for common development, peace, greater openness and win-win progress, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as promoting inclusiveness and mutual learning.

The five aspects clarify the prospects of China-ASEAN relations and will steadily promote the China-ASEAN strategic partnership to build a close-knit China-ASEAN community of shared future and make greater contributions to prosperity and stability in the region and the world at large.

Concrete Roadmap

The roadmap includes one docking, one framework,one blueprint and a series of mechanisms and platforms.

One docking refers to the Belt and Road Initiative’s alignment with the ASEAN development strategy and the respective strategies of ASEAN member states.These strategies include the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 (MPAC 2025), Indonesia’s Vision of Global Maritime Fulcrum, Cambodia’s Rectangular Strategy, the strategy of Laos to transform itself from a landlocked to a land-linked country and Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor. There is broad consensus among all parties along the Belt and Road to work together within those strategies, and some related plans and cooperative projects have achieved positive results, hinting at a bright future ahead.

One framework refers to the “3+X” cooperation framework which considers political security,economics and trade and people-to-people exchanges its three pillars. It is supported by cooperation in various fields aiming to build more comprehensive China-ASEAN relations.

One blueprint is China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership Vision 2030. All parties reached a consensus on Vision 2030 at China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Singapore on August 2, 2018. Vision 2030 will be submitted to the upcoming China-ASEAN Summit in November to be published, after which it will serve as an important guidance for the development of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership.

The series of mechanisms and platforms includes the regional-level China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week, the sub-regional Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, cooperation between China and East ASEAN Growth Area and bilateral-level activities such as a variety of cooperation mechanisms between China and each individual ASEAN member state. This comprehensive cooperation framework will lend strong support to the development of China-ASEAN relations.

A More Solid Foundation

China-ASEAN dialogue relations were launched in 1991. Since the two sides established a strategic partnership in 2003, China and ASEAN have continued to increase consensus on deepening exchange and cooperation. Ever-expanding economic, trade and people-to-people exchanges have deeply enhanced mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. Since the ASEAN-China Center (ACC) was established in 2011, it has organized various effective projects in fields of trade, investment, tourism,education, culture and media, becoming a unique link to promote bilateral friendly exchange and an important platform to conduct pragmatic cooperation.

In recent years, public awareness of the peoples of China and ASEAN countries about China-ASEAN relations has continued improving, and willingness to participate in bilateral cooperation has been growing.Many Chinese provinces and municipalities, especially those in central, western and northeastern China,regard ASEAN as a prioritized destination for foreign exchange and cooperation.

More and more Chinese universities and companies hope to further strengthen exchange and cooperation with ASEAN countries through the ACC platform. The same is true in ASEAN countries. Friendly cooperation between China and ASEAN has become more and more popular among the people, which will provide steady fuel and strong public opinion for the development of China-ASEAN relations.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, the combined total volume of trade between China and the countries along the Belt and Road has exceeded US$5 trillion. China’s direct investment in the countries along the Belt and Road exceeds US$70 billion. The combined contract amount of projects in the countries along the Belt and Road is more than US$500 billion.

During the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, China reached 279 cooperation agreements with relevant countries which are already been or in the process of being implemented.

Over the next 15 years, the Chinese market will be further expanded and develop more comprehensively.China is expected to import US$24 trillion in goods and attract overseas direct investment of US$2 trillion while investing US$2 trillion directly in foreign countries. These measures will represent China’s important contributions to the stability and prosperity of Asia and provide impetus to the cause of world peace and development through the promotion of strategic stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.