JAKARTA (Xinhua) - Secretary-General of the Association of
South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) Le Luong Minh has stressed China and ASEAN
should further strengthen dialogue and cooperation and bring the bilateral
relationship to a higher level.
Le Luong Minh, who officially
assumed his position as ASEAN secretary-general on Jan. 9 this year, told
Xinhua in an exclusive interview here Thursday that China-ASEAN relations have
undergone remarkable progress since the two parties established the full
dialogue partnership in 1996.
"China-ASEAN relations have
developed into one of ASEAN's most comprehensive, dynamic and fast-growing
partnerships," Minh said.
ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations
commenced when Qian Qichen, the then Chinese state councilor and foreign
minister, attended the opening session of the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers'
Meeting (AMM) where he expressed China's keen interest to cooperate with ASEAN
for mutual benefit in 1991 in Kuala Lumpur. Five years later, China was
accorded full Dialogue Partner status at the 29th AMM in Jakarta.
The secretary-general said in the
past years ASEAN and China have been actively engaging each other through
various mechanisms of regional cooperation such as ASEAN plus One, ASEAN plus
Three, the ASEAN Regional Forum and East Asian Summit to pursue concerted
efforts in addressing issues of common concern and interest.
Minh appreciated China's support
to ASEAN's integration and community building endeavor, saying a strong,
stable, united and peaceful ASEAN is very much in the interest of the region
and neighboring countries including China.
"For the community building,
we have a lot of work to be done from now to 2015. We have seen many potentials
for furthering cooperation between China and ASEAN," said Minh, adding
that China can participate in the projects of ASEAN's community building
process.
The ten ASEAN countries --
Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam adopted in 2008 a charter aiming to form by
2015 a "community" based on three main pillars, namely ASEAN
Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural
Community.
The ASEAN chief said China and
ASEAN need to continue engagement and deepen existing cooperation while
exploring new areas of collaboration. Both sides should work closely on, among
others, implementing ASEAN Connectivity activities and addressing the
challenges.
In this regard, he saw potentials
in the areas of disaster management, disease prevention and control, cultural
exchange and tourism.
Talking about the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP) negotiation launched at the 19th
ASEAN Summit last November, Minh said the free trade pact is expected to
further promote intra- regional trade and investment and economic cooperation
within East Asia.
Sixteen countries including
China, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia and ASEAN members are
aiming to establish a regional trade and economic alliance to promote greater
flow of goods and services, which has around 3.5 billion people and accounts
for one third of the world's current annual GDP.
Minh said the RCEP will be the
biggest single market in the world, even bigger than the traditional markets of
the United States and the European Union.
He admitted challenges are there
for the RCEP talks, saying, " The participates in the negotiating
countries are very different in the level of economic development, we have the
most advanced countries like Japan, South Korea, and China, and also we have
countries with the low level of economic development."
"Given the resolve and the
commitment of all the parties concerned, I am convinced that the RECP target
will be achieved," Minh said.
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