Commentary: Building greater regional trust ( 2003-10-10 01:51) (China Daily)
On Wednesday, leaders of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) signed a Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for Peace and
Prosperity in Bali, Indonesia.
The document was significant not only for China, but for the ASEAN countries
because it means China has become the first strategic partner of ASEAN and ASEAN
has also become the first regional group with which China has forged a strategic
partnership.
In the document, the two sides reviewed the past fruits of bilateral
relations and drew up prospects for their further development.
Politically, the two sides expressed wishes to further enhance mutual trust
in the spirit of the agreements and documents they have reached.
Given bilateral sensitivity on some political issues, particularly disputes
on the ownership of the South China Sea and occasional dissemination of the
"China threat'' myth by some international forces, the statement shows the two
sides have attached great importance to the forging of mutual trust.
In the economic field, the two sides said they would continue strengthening
beneficial co-operation in agriculture, the information industry, human
resources and mutual investment, as well as economic development of the Mekong
Basin.
The two sides also said they would speed up the process of constructing a
China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), which was outlined in a framework agreement
signed last year and is due to be completed by 2010.
Concerning security, China and the ASEAN countries expressed willingness to
further enhance mutual trust through high-level contacts and setting up
consultative mechanisms at various levels to maintain peace and stability in the
South China Sea and the region as a whole.
In the document, the two sides reached a consensus to continue pushing for
bilateral co-operation in various international and regional multilateral
mechanisms and develop their strategic partnership for non-aligned,
non-military, and non-exclusive purposes.
The milestone document not only reflects the past achievements China-ASEAN
ties have achieved, but also demonstrates their willingness to make bigger
strides in advancing bilateral ties.
Although a fully mature and stable China-ASEAN relationship needs more time
to cultivate,there are good reasons to believe the region, which bases its ties
upon more openness and increasing mutual trust, will play a larger role in the
international arena.
