Kunming, China News Network, October 28 Title: China-ASEAN cooperation "thirty and standing" mutual benefit and win-win has become a consensus
Author Chen Jing Luo Jie
From the 28th to the 29th, the 12th Southwest Forum and the 2021 Academic Annual Conference of the "Belt and Road" Research Branch of the China Higher Education Association were held online. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Dialogue relations between China and ASEAN, more than 80 experts and scholars from South and Southeast Asian countries reviewed the achievements of bilateral cooperation over the years and believed that mutual benefit and win-win results have become the consensus of all countries.
Since the establishment of dialogue relations in 1991, China and ASEAN have embarked on a path of unity and win-win cooperation. China-ASEAN bilateral trade increased from US$8.36 billion in 1991 to US$685.28 billion in 2020, becoming the most successful and dynamic model of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and an important engine for the prosperity and development of East Asia. In the past 30 years, China and ASEAN have established a free trade area covering 11 countries and benefiting 1.9 billion people, and the China-ASEAN Expo has gradually become an important platform for promoting trade and investment. In 2020, under the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the heat of economic and trade cooperation between the two sides did not drop but rose, and for the first time they became each other's largest trading partners.
"An important experience of China-ASEAN dialogue relations in the past 30 years is that economic cooperation is given priority. Promoting cooperation in the political and security fields with economy is the most important point of convergence and foundation for bilateral cooperation. Gao Zugui, a researcher at the Institute of International Strategic Studies of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, believes that on the basis of economic cooperation, the trust between the two sides has increased and the ties have been strengthened, and if the operation is reversed, the cooperation between China and ASEAN in various fields may not be able to achieve today's results.
Xing Guangcheng, member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the China Frontier Research Institute, also believes that the construction of a China-ASEAN community of common destiny should start from a community of interests, and the deeper the interests of the two sides, the more stable the foundation for cooperation. The open development of China's coastal areas over the years, the rapid progress of Guangxi and Yunnan, and the cooperation between China and ASEAN are inseparable from each other, which is also the positive effect of regional interests.
In the face of the new crown pneumonia epidemic that has swept the world, Xing Guangcheng suggested that the economic impact of the epidemic on all countries in the world should be assessed as soon as possible, pay attention to the economic crisis, financial crisis and industrial chain rupture crisis caused by the epidemic, and establish a preset plan to help each other and overcome the difficulties together.
Chaw Chaw Sein, vice president of the University of Foreign Chinese in Yangon, Myanmar, pointed out that the LMC mechanism proposed by China has provided a lot of support and assistance to Mekong river basin countries in agriculture and other fields, which has also persuaded more ASEAN countries to carry out cooperation with China in various fields. In the future, China and ASEAN should strengthen dialogue, enhance mutual trust, and seek cooperation in trade, investment, security, health and other aspects.
"In recent years, tourism has become an important bridge for exchanges between Thailand and China. Every year, Chinese tourists have become an important source of income for Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. In view of the various new challenges and new situations facing the current global community, Kitti Prasirtsuk, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at Thammasat University in Thailand, suggested that China and ASEAN can jointly cooperate and develop some specific projects through the "Belt and Road" initiative and the LMC mechanism to enhance mutual trust. At the same time, we will strengthen cooperation in infrastructure construction, logistics infrastructure construction, and digital economy, and achieve coordinated development and mutual benefit and win-win results. (End)