Relationship brimful of opportunities

The resilience and durability of relations over the past 30 years provide a strong foundation on which to build a China-ASEAN community with a shared future

Since the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations in 1991, the two sides have been deepening their cooperation in an all-round manner, yielding fruitful results in various fields. A review of the 30 years unfolds an extraordinary and exciting journey defined by tremendous progress.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have worked in concert to overcome various challenges, including the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS epidemic, the 2004 bird flu epidemic and the 2008 global financial crisis. The two sides have offered each other much-needed support in times of difficulties, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in China in 2008. Now, China and ASEAN are standing together in the fight against the novel coronavirus and taking the lead in promoting a global economic recovery. This cooperation is a salient example of the resilience and sustainability of China-ASEAN relations.

The past 30 years have been marked by China and ASEAN working hard and jointly reaping the benefits of their shared efforts. Among ASEAN's dialogue partners, China was the first to accede to the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the first to sign a Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN and later an upgraded protocol, and the first to draw a blueprint for the medium-to long-term development of bilateral ties (the China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership Vision 2030).The great momentum of China-ASEAN ties has, to some extent, promoted other dialogue partners' cooperation with ASEAN.

Thanks to the constantly improving cooperation mechanisms and platforms, the two sides have witnessed deepening political mutual trust, accelerated connectivity and strengthening economic and trade ties. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years while ASEAN replaced the European Union last year to become China's largest trading partner. With close people-to-people exchanges in various levels and fields, the China-ASEAN relationship has grown to be the most successful and vibrant model for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

The past 30 years have seen China and ASEAN holding dear the spirit of mutual respect, consensus building, openness and inclusiveness, and accommodating the comfort levels of all parties, so as to promote sound and steady development of the ASEAN-centric regional cooperation architecture. Together, the two sides have opposed protectionism, safeguarded multilateralism and the rules-based free trading system, and promoted the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. They have also coordinated closely in such multilateral platforms as the United Nations, APEC and the Asia-Europe Meeting.

Looking to the future, leaders from both sides have reached an important political consensus on building a higher-level China-ASEAN strategic partnership. China is ready to work in concert with ASEAN to enable the China-ASEAN relationship to continue to take the lead in regional cooperation in East Asia. China is also committed to doing its utmost to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

China and ASEAN should bolster their public health cooperation to help end the pandemic at an early date. China is actively exploring research and development and vaccine production cooperation with ASEAN countries. It will continue to make its COVID-19 vaccines a public good accessible and affordable for the people in the region. China is also working with ASEAN to beef up public health cooperation and enhance their joint pandemic response, including setting up reserves of medical supplies and a liaison mechanism for public health emergencies, and will help strengthen ASEAN's public health capacity, such as personnel training, resource allocation and capacity building.

China and ASEAN need to maintain the strong momentum in their economic cooperation and work together to promote the region's economic recovery. China recently ratified the RCEP agreement. The two sides should work together for the early entry into force of the RCEP, seek greater synergy in policies for economic recovery, expand the scope of "fast tracks" for travel and "green lanes" for cargo transportation in a well-thought-out way and implement the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and its upgraded protocol. The two sides can also promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation by ensuring steady progress in key projects, including the China-Laos Railway, China-Thailand Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung Railway. We can also jointly seize the development opportunities arising from the digital economy and keep innovating modalities for collaboration in such areas as e-commerce, smart cities, big data and 5G.

The two sides should also strive to foster new highlights in bilateral cooperation. As 2021 is also the China-ASEAN Year of Sustainable Development, China is eager to promote non-traditional cooperation with ASEAN in such areas as environmental protection, poverty reduction, disaster prevention and relief, and actions to address climate change. China also sets great importance on jointly exploring the establishment of the blue economic partnership with ASEAN.

Last but not least, creative efforts should be made to boost people-to-people exchanges by intensifying cooperation in such areas as culture, education, tourism, sports and media, and vigorously promoting youth exchanges. Flagship projects such as the China-ASEAN Young Leaders Scholarship and China-ASEAN Short Video Contest will enable mutual learning and deeper mutual understanding.

The year 2021 is of great significance for China and ASEAN. It is the centenary year for the Communist Party of China, the first year for China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) to be implemented, and the year in which China is accelerating the implementation of the new "dual circulation" development paradigm featuring domestic and overseas markets reinforcing each other with the domestic market as the mainstay. On ASEAN's part, it is halfway through the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, with significant achievements having been made in its community-building. ASEAN is preparing itself in every way for greater progress.

The 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations is a new starting point brimming with fresh opportunities. The two sides are ready to ride on the rising tide and jointly build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.