CHINA / National
China, ASEAN vow to expand links
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-31 21:04
Trade and economic cooperation have become top priority between China and
the ten-member ASEAN these days as leaders from China and ASEAN countries
gathered for a number of events.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (L), Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao (C), and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attend the
opening ceremony of the third China-ASEAN Exposition in Nanning, capital
of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Oct. 31, 2006.
[newsphoto]
On Monday they signed a joint statement to cement their strategic
partnership. On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and ASEAN rotating
president -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vowed to bring
closer the neighbors economically.
"China and ASEAN countries are close neighbors...the two sides are
complementary in resources, industrial structure and trade, and both are
experiencing rapid development," said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the
opening ceremony of a business and investment summit. "We must seize this
rare opportunity to broaden, enrich and upgrade our cooperation."
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The joint statement, inked by Wen and his ASEAN colleagues, was to
reaffirm the determination of the 11 countries to enhance not only
political trust, but also the building of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area
(FTA) by 2010, a giant trade zone incorporating 1. 8 billion, or one
third of the world's population.
According to a framework agreement signed by the two sides, about 7,000
kinds goods would move free of tariffs by 2010 between China and six old
ASEAN members -- Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia
and Thailand -- and by 2015 for the rest of the ASEAN members.
TRADE
"One of the most dynamic components ... is the ASEAN-China Free Trade
Area," said President Arroyo. "The ASEAN region represents a market of
over half a billion people for Chinese exports. In turn, we the ASEAN
countries can reduce our dependence on Western markets such as the US and
Europe."
Ambition of the trading bloc is fueled by snowballing bilateral trade
volume over the past decade. According to statistics by the Chinese
Customs, from 1990 to 2005, China-ASEAN trade volume surged at an average
of 22 percent year-on-year.
China-ASEAN trade hit 130.3 billion U.S. dollars last year, 23 percent up
from 2004 and roughly 16 times of the figure in 1991. In the first three
quarters this year, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN countries
topped 116.3 billion U.S. dollars.
China and ASEAN are now the 4th biggest trading partner of each other.
ASEAN is China's 4th biggest export market and 3rd biggest source of
import.
China's Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said Tuesday that trade volume
between China and ASEAN will rise 20 percent from last year.
China slashed tariffs on 7,000 goods from ASEAN in 2005. Today, tropical
fruits like durian, mangosteen and ramboostan from Southeast Asia are
popular with Chinese consumers. China's temperate zones fruits like
apples, pears and oranges are now easily affordable to ASEAN consumers.
China and ASEAN have concluded agreements on trade in goods and dispute
settlement mechanism and launched negotiation on trade in services and
investment.
The ever-stronger momentum leads people to believe that the goal of
achieving a 200-billion-U.S. dollar annual bilateral trade volume could
be realized in 2008, two years ahead of schedule.
Trade analysts said the growth is partially prodded by structural
optimization of traded products in the region.
"The merchandise between China and ASEAN are changing from raw products
to finished industrial products, in particular, mechanical, electrical or
high-tech products", said Chai Yu, director of the economics office of
the Asia-Pacific Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
On Tuesday, Wen made a five-point proposal on boost China-ASEAN
cooperation. The first one is to expand trade.
"Both sides should work for a more enabling trading environment to
facilitate trade," Wen said. "China has a trade deficit with ASEAN. But
we are still committed to further opening market and increasing import
from ASEAN."
INVESTMENT
Another important area of cooperation is investment. Two-way investment
has expanded. By the end of June 2006, ASEAN had made a total net
investment of 40 billion US dollars in China. Chinese investment in ASEAN
has also been growing strongly to 158 million U.S. dollars by 2005.
On Tuesday, Wen said in his five-point proposal that the two sides should
deepen cooperation in investment.
"Both sides should provide better investment promotion services to
accelerate investment facilitation," he said.
The premier said China will honor its pledge made last year of providing
five billion US dollars of preferential loans to support Chinese
companies in investing and setting up business ventures in ASEAN
countries.
"We encourage them to join in the development in ASEAN countries of trade
and economic cooperation zones that have sound infrastructure and
production chains linking different sectors and will spur local
development," he said.
The ASEAN welcomed China's increasing investment but demanding more.
"We are starting to see more Chinese investment into the ASEAN countries
and we hope to see more," Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
said.
In another development, the Import and Export Bank of China said Tuesday
that it will honor the Chinese government's pledge of providing five
billion U.S. dollars to ASEAN nations within the year.
TOURISM
One of the "priority areas" listed in the statement, tourism has been
taken as a "golden key" to open the win-win gate and inspire cultural
exchange by China and ASEAN countries, as the " city of charm" exhibition
showcasing tourism destinations in China and ASEAN countries has become
an important part in the China- ASEAN Expo.
In 2005, ASEAN countries saw three million Chinese tourists who made
there the first stop for overseas tours, accounting for one third of the
total number of outbound tourists in the year.
Meanwhile, China attracted some three million tourists from ASEAN
countries, one-fifth of the total inbound foreign tourists in 2005.
According to Rong Xiaoning, director of the cultural department of
Guangxi, deep historical and geological connections of China and ASEAN
serve as a natural advantage for tourism development, as China shares a
host of ethnic groups with Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
"Similarities in history, language and culture are likely to forge a
recognition between the nations," Rong said.
A tourism sea route linking Beihai in China's Guangxi and Vinh Ha Long in
Vietnam greeted its first batch of visitors from Vietnam on Monday, and
Vietnamese officials are seeking partners from China to develop the Thac
Ban Gioc (known as Detian Waterfall in Chinese) scenic spot on border of
the two countries.
Tightening economic ties mirror the warming of China-ASEAN relations,
which experienced a "triple jump" over the last 15 years: establishment
of a comprehensive dialogue framework, good- neighborliness and mutual
trust partnership towards 21st century and strategic partnership for
peace and prosperity.
"Today, we are opening a new page in China-ASEAN relations," said Premier
Wen on Tuesday, "and we have full confidence about our future."
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