EVOLUTION OF CHINA-ASEAN RELATIONS

China for the first time officially recognized the ASEAN grouping in 1975 after China was admitted into the United Nations in 1971, and ASEAN member states started to switch their diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China (ROC) to the People's Republic of China (PRC). The official relationship between China and ASEAN as a grouping was not possible before all ASEAN member states established diplomatic relations with China. During his visit to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in November 1978, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping expressed China's wishes to develop relations with all ASEAN countries. From the 1980s, China intensified its effort to establish diplomatic relations with all the remaining ASEAN states that had not established or restored diplomatic relations with China. In July 1985, China and Indonesia signed an MOU to restore direct trade with each other as a precursor of restoration of their full relations. In his visit to Thailand in November 1988, Chinese Premier Li Peng announced four principles in establishing, restoring and developing relations with the ASEAN states. After restoring and establishing diplomatic relations with Indonesia on 8 August 1990 and with Singapore on 3 October 1990, China pushed for official ties with the ASEAN grouping. On 19 July 1991, Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen attended the opening session of the Twenty-fourth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Kuala Lumpur as a guest of the Malaysian Government, where he held the first informal meeting with the ASEAN foreign ministers and expressed China's interest in cooperation with the ASEAN as a grouping. The latter responded positively. At the invitation of the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, the ASEAN Secretary-General Dato' Ajit Singh led an ASEAN delegation for a visit to Beijing in September 1993, and agreed to establish two joint committees, one on cooperation in science and technology, and the other on economic and trade cooperation.