China, ASEAN urged to accelerate economic integration

Echoing Wang's view, Sarah Y. Tong, a senior research fellow of the National University of Singapore's East Asian Institute, said China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative is "the most important and paramount initiative."

She said bilateral economic relations have intensified and become increasingly important for both China and ASEAN nations.

The China-ASEAN economic cooperation and related institutional arrangements serve to enhance their respective economic relations with third parties, she said, adding that there is great potential for the two sides to further enhance cooperation.

With the theme of Building Mutual Trust and a Community of Common Destiny, the forum attracted government officials, experts and scholars from the 10 ASEAN countries as well as representatives of Hong Kong's business community and related experts and scholars from the Chinese mainland.

Do Tien Sam, chief editor of China Studies Review under the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences, spoke highly of the increasingly close China-ASEAN ties, noting China has become ASEAN 's largest trading partner while ASEAN China's third-largest.

He also cited the rapid development in non-governmental exchanges as well as in land, rail, sea and air transport linkage between China and ASEAN in recent years.

"China and ASEAN relations are standing at a new starting point, with bilateral cooperation in various areas, including culture, education and non-traditional security issues, being further deepened," he said.

U Than Tun, a member of the Myanmar Institute Strategic & International Studies, said as the ASEAN integration proceeds, more challenges will lie ahead, which mainly come from the diversity of different countries in the 10-member regional bloc.

He pointed out that political, security, and economic and social aspects are key to the post-2015 ASEAN agenda.

Commenting on the description of the next 10 years as a " diamond decade" in China-ASEAN cooperation, the Myanmar expert said it will encourage both sides to build an even better relationship in the future.