Recent years have seen rapid growth of friendly relations and cooperation between China and the ASEAN countries. Several years ago, China was a country of dialogue and consultation with ASEAN. Now, it is a full dialogue partner with ASEAN, and China- ASEAN relations have entered a new stage.
In the political field, the two sides maintain frequent high level dialogues and exchange of visits at all levels. This has deepened mutual understanding and friendship. President Jiang Zeming visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Singapore in 1994 and visited the Philippines after attending the APEC informal leadership summit in 1996. Chinese Premier Li Peng and Qiao Shi, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, respectively visited Viet Nam. In 1997, Premier Li Peng paid an official visit to Malaysia and Singapore and Li Ruihuan, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, visited Viet Nam. President Jiang met the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia when attending the APEC meeting in November, 1998. In 1999, China respectively signed framework documents on bilateral cooperation oriented towards the 21st century with Thailand and Malaysia and signed joint statements on future cooperation with Viet Nam and Brunei respectively. In November, 1999, Premier Zhou Rongji paid an official visit to Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam before and after attending the third informal meeting of the East Asian leaders.
At the end of 1997, President Jiang and the ASEAN leaders had their first informal meeting and issued a Joint Statement. They decided to establish partnership of good neighborliness and mutual trust oriented towards the 21st century between China and ASEAN, thus putting into place the framework and charting the course for the all-round growth of their relations. Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao attended the second ASEAN-China informal leadership meeting in Hanoi in 1998. On November 28, 1999, Premier Zhou Rongji attended the third ASEAN-China informal leaders meeting in Manila.
The full dialogue and cooperation mechanism between China and ASEAN is functioning smoothly. At present, there are five parallel frameworks for dialogue between China and ASEAN: China-ASEAN political consultation at senior official level, China- ASEAN Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation, China-ASEAN Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, China-ASEAN Joint Committee on Cooperation and ASEAN Beijing Committee. Five rounds of China-ASEAN political consultation at senior official level have been conducted. At the 5th senior official meeting held in April, 1999 in Kunming, both sides exchanged views on their respective economic development, China-ASEAN relations, regional economic and financial situation and regional and international issues of mutual concern and reached extensive agreement. China-ASEAN Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation has conducted full exchange of views on deepening economic and trade cooperation between the two sides. China-ASEAN Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation is exploring the possibility of entering into cooperation in meteorology, seismology and remote sensing. The China-ASEAN Fund of Cooperation has been set up. China has contributed 700,000 dollars to finance projects decided by the China-ASEAN committees. Projects on personnel exchange were undertaken at the end of 1997 and early 1998.
China-ASEAN cooperation is expanding in all fields. Economic and scientific cooperation has become an important and dynamic aspect of China-ASEAN relations. The bilateral trade has grown steadily, from 13 billion dollars in 1994 to 23.5 billion dollars in 1998. According to statistics released by the Chinese customs, China-ASEAN trade reached 21.48 billion dollars between January-October, 1999, registering an increase of 15.7% over the same period the year before. Mutual investment between China and the ASEAN countries has also grown. ASEAN is now an important market for labor services and project contracting by China. China has respectively signed governmental agreements on cooperation in science and technology with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Indonesia. Non-official cooperation in science and technology between China and ASEAN is also expanding. Cooperation between chambers of commerce in China and ASEAN has seen steady growth. In April, 1997, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade signed a memorandum of understanding with the ASEAN Chamber of Commerce and established China-ASEAN Trade Council. China-ASEAN cooperation in environmental protection, post and telecommunications, transportation and maritime shipping has also made progress.
China and ASEAN have enhanced coordination in regional and international affairs. Both sides enjoy good cooperation in regional and international organizations such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, APEC, Euro-Asian meeting and the United Nations, which have contributed significantly to upholding the rights and interests of developing countries, increasing mutual understanding and trust and promoting peace and stability in the region.
