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15945 results in ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Page 645 of 798

  • 7 - Ways Towards East Asian FTA: The Significant Roles of ASEAN and China

    • By Zhang Xiaoji, Research Department of Foreign Economic Relations
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 68-89

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    East Asia is an area where new emerging market economies are very dynamic, intra-regional economic links are closely knitted and highly reliant on external markets. Faced with the rapid growth of regional trade arrangements around the globe and especially the expansion of the two trade blocs of EU and NAFTA, the various countries in this region are reformulating their strategies of foreign economic relationship, and actively carrying out intra-regional and cross-regional free trade negotiations. Under the established “ASEAN+3 (Japan, China and Korea)” framework for cooperation, the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN-China was signed at the ASEAN-China summit held in Phnom Penh, and currently the Free Trade Area negotiations have entered an intensive period. Japan has signed a Japanese-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (JSEPA), and has issued a joint statement with ASEAN concerning the establishment of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the conducting of bilateral FTA negotiations with some members. FTA negotiations between Korea and Singapore are also underway. China, Korea and Japan have issued a joint statement to set up a three-party committee to promote cooperation between the three countries. The final report submitted by the “East Asian Study Group” to the “ASEAN+3” Summit laid out proposals on how to boost the prosperity and stability of the East Asian region.

    Against such a backdrop, how to maintain the cooperative tendency of the East Asian region and bridge the ideal and reality has become a common challenge to the “Ten+3” leaders. Through a multi-scheme comparison of East Asian regional cooperation, this chapter attempts to analyse the possibilities for EAFTA to be realized as a mid-term objective for ASEAN, Japan, China and Korea to promote regional economic integration.

    NEW TENDENCIES OF FREE TRADE RELATIONSHIP IN EAST ASIA

    In the 1990s, a wave of regional economic integration swept through the whole world. By the end of 2002, the World Trade Organization had received formal notifications of 250 Regional Trade Arrangements (RTAs). Most WTO members have participated in one or more RTAs, and the trade volume between RTA members accounted for forty-three per cent of the global trade in 2001. With various forms of RTA, institutional arrangements with Free Trade Area (FTA) at the core are winning over more and more acceptance by various countries.

  • 12 - Evolving Security Environment in Southeast Asia: An ASEAN Assessment

    • By Jusuf Wanandi, Southeast Asian regionalism and the politics and foreign policies of Indonesia and the United States
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 164-174

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    Since the main topic is on the evolving security environment of Southeast Asia, particularly on external security challenges of Southeast Asia, this introduction will include two other problems that are internal security concerns for Southeast Asia. First is the domestic challenges due to the financial crisis (and generally globalization) which put a lot of new pressure on the developing societies of Southeast Asia. They are not only economic in nature but also social, political and even cultural or the values system that have been touched and changed.

    The second challenge is the new relations in ASEAN created not only by the expansion of its membership from six to ten Southeast Asian nations, but also by the new challenges of globalization that put a lot more pressure on the relationship. This is due to the expectations of the greater East Asian and Asia-Pacific regions on the regional entity, ASEAN, while the entity could not be advanced or expanded due to the limitations of some of its new members and to the diversity of political systems and economic development among them.

    These two internal challenges could be more devastating to Southeast Asia than any external security challenges, because in fact, outside threats directed towards Southeast Asian states are non-existent in the foreseeable future. However, there are developments in the East Asian region that could become sources of instability for the whole region and affect the security of Southeast Asian states indirectly. They are the potential conflicts across the straits between China and Taiwan, and the problem of proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula. Another source is the nuclear stand-off in the sub-continent between India and Pakistan.

    In addition, there are new threats and challenges coming to the region (and globally), namely, the problem of global and regional terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). These new asymmetrical threats are non-state in nature but are very damaging because they are distinct from earlier domestic political terrorism. The terrorists form a global network based on a very extreme interpretation of Islam and they have no qualms about killing innocent people anywhere and in big numbers.

  • 11 - The Dragon, the Bull and the Ricestalks: The Roles of China and India in Southeast Asia

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 151-163

  • Summary

    The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s brought about opportunities as well as challenges to the countries in Southeast Asia. It provided the opportunity to establish a new regional order where the countries in the region could coexist peacefully in spite of different ideologies. It also offered the challenge for the establishment of a new security arrangement in order to manage the extra-regional powers, both the dominant and the rising ones.

    The United States, the hegemonic power, had played a significant role during the Cold War in guaranteeing the security of the Southeast Asian region. Japan, the United States’ ally, also contributed to the industrialization and economic development of the region through investment and trade. China was then perceived as a menace as she supported the communist insurgencies, while India was looked at with suspicion because she was close to the Soviet Union and sided with the communist regimes in Indochina.

    The Sino-Soviet conflict and the subsequent demise of communism in Eastern Europe as well as in Soviet Union altered the strategic landscape in Southeast Asia. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), formed in 1967 of five Southeast Asian nations, saw the opportunity to enlarge and include the communist neighbours so that ten countries in the region belonged to the same regional organization. ASEAN also realized that it must engage the major powers, all extra-regional ones, including the hegemonic United States, the declining Japan, the rising China and the emerging India, so that the region could be secure, and prosper.

    The four major powers — different in size and potentials — could become the four engines of the ASEAN plane. The question is how to manage them so as to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks for ASEAN. This chapter will analyse the roles of two major powers — the rising of China and India, in Southeast Asia. The chapter is divided into two parts, the first will focus on the China-ASEAN relations, the second part on the India-ASEAN relations.

    THE ROLE OF CHINA IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

    Southeast Asia has always been considered strategically and economically important for China.

  • 6 - ASEAN+3: The Roles of ASEAN and China

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 49-67

  • Summary

    East Asia is in the throes of an important socio-economic evolutionary process, after three waves of monumental transformation since the late 1980s. Each wave of change and transformation moulded East Asia incrementally and helped forge an East Asian economic model, which is becoming discernable today. In turn, the emergence of this “new” model is dictating East Asia's challenges and opportunities, as new socio-economic and political trends emerge and as East Asian regionalism take off.

    In this regional context, ASEAN and China are playing important roles in shaping ASEAN+3 in socio-economic development, regional peace and cooperation, and the cultural affirmation of an Asian identity. This chapter focuses on three aspects.

  • The East Asian socio-economic transformation in three waves (liberalization/globalization, the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS epidemic) has prompted China and ASEAN to develop an East Asian model of socio-economic development;

  • The fundamental geopolitics is based on a shifting ASEAN-China relationship, thanks to China's pragmatism and ASEAN's changed threat perception of China;

  • The eventual affirmation of an Asian identity or “Asian-ness”, especially with the rise of China's “soft power” and ASEAN's acquiescence of this rise, has in turn contributed to the consolidation of ASEAN+3.

    • THREE WAVES OF TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE: TOWARDS EAST ASIAN REGIONALISM AND A NEW EAST ASIAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC MODEL

    First Wave of Liberalization/Globalization: Opening Up and Export Orientation

    Like the rest of the world, East Asia was profoundly affected by the trends of liberalization and globalization, as it was “opened up” and its economies liberalized, at the behest of the United States and Western powers.

    In the early 1990s, the Reaganite and Thatcherite revolutions brought sweeping changes to the mentality of the post-Cold War order. When the Soviet Empire ultimately collapsed under the weight of inefficient communism and China became progressively engaged in a successful “socialism à la chinoise” experiment, liberalism's final triumph was hailed and communism's demise ultimately sealed. Daniel Yergin emphasized that the most important phenomenon and transition in post-War modern times was undoubtedly this “free market revolution that changed the world”.

    Neo-liberalism and liberalization engaged the world in a frantic race towards the globalization of four key elements, viz. the massive and rapid circulation of goods and services, capital, ideas and human resources worldwide.

  • Opening Remarks by Wang Gungwu

    • By Wang Gungwu, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp xvii-xix

  • Summary

    On behalf of ISEAS, let me welcome all of you to ASEAN-China Forum 2004. ISEAS is only slightly younger than the original ASEAN first established in 1967, but ISEAS has, of course, not grown together with ASEAN in every respect. For one thing, ISEAS did not admit five new partners. For another, I am delighted to add ISEAS did not experience the financial crisis that almost paralysed some of the members of ASEAN. I say this only in jest in order to emphasize how presumptuous it is for me to mention ISEAS and ASEAN in the same breath. But, seriously, there is one link between the two that I am not afraid to point to. The founders of ASEAN, like those of our institute, would not have expected ASEAN to grow as quickly and as dramatically as it did during this past decade. The fact is that, despite the crises for some members and for the region as a whole, ASEAN proved to be more than viable under great stress and the Secretary General's office in Jakarta is now busier than ever before.

    Among ASEAN's many changes, there were a few that were exceptional. One of them was something that the founders of our institute would hardly have dared to dream of. I refer to the fact that ASEAN, the organization that the ISEAS as a research centre began to study almost from day one of its foundation, would one day have the People's Republic of China as one of its warmest supporters. I think it would have been inconceivable for any of our founders that we can now expect concrete plans to be drawn up for ASEAN and China to develop a Free Trade Area.

    It is humbling to think how far ASEAN has come. You can thus imagine how proud our institute is to hold this forum today on “Developing ASEAN-China Relations”. We are indeed grateful that the Secretary General Mr Ong Keng Yong has found it possible to come and support our efforts and give us this keynote address.

  • 9 - U.S.-ASEAN, Japan-ASEAN Relations and Their Impacts on China

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 110-127

  • Summary

    Since the end of the Cold War, and especially after the Asian financial crisis and the September 11 terrorist attacks, the presence and influence of some world powers including the United States, China, and Japan in Southeast Asia have greatly changed. Because of these changes, ASEAN has been readjusting its policy and trying to seek a balance of these powers to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia. The readjustment is a strategic choice for ASEAN to meet the new situation in the region after the Cold War, as its members consider that ASEAN is not able to safeguard its security by its own efforts. At the same time, great powers driven by their own interests are sure to expand and compete in Southeast Asia. If ASEAN takes advantage of the competition of these great powers, it may achieve the balance of power and meet the ends of maintaining regional security, stability and prosperity. ASEAN believes that China's influence on Southeast Asia tends to be increasing as an ambitious regional power, whereas United States is a “moderate superpower”. In this case, it is necessary to enlarge America's and Japan's presence and influence in Southeast Asia to balance China. This chapter mainly analyses the development and changes in the U.S.-ASEAN relations, Japan-ASEAN relations and their impact on China.

    ASEAN-US RELATIONS: STRENGTHENING THE MILITARY AND SECURITY COOPERATION

    After the Cold War, the United States has continued to reinforce economic and trade relations with Southeast Asia. Ever since the Clinton administration defined Southeast Asia as an important new market, U.S. investments and trade in Southeast Asian countries have risen steadily. In addition, Southeast Asian countries have come to depend on American capital and export market even more since the Asian financial crisis. At present, the United States is the largest export market for most of the ASEAN countries, and ASEAN is the fourth largest trade partner of the United States (only after Canada, Mexico and Japan). The volume of trade between the United States and ASEAN accounts for 20 per cent of the total trade volume between the United States and Asia, more than that between the United States and China. What is equally important is that ASEAN's commitment to free trade is beneficial to the establishment of an open and multilateral trade system which is promoted actively by the United States.

  • 22 - South China Sea: Turning Suspicion into Mutual Understanding and Cooperation

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 329-343

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    As one of the major marginal seas in the world, the South China Sea (SCS) is defined by the International Hydrographic Bureau as the semi-enclosed body of water, situated from three degrees south latitude between South Sumatra and Kalimantan (Kalimantan Straits), and to the Strait of Taiwan from the northern tip of Taiwan to the mainland coast of China, and stretching in a southwest to northeast direction. The South China Sea is a semi-enclosed sea bordered by the ASEAN member states (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and China (including Taiwan). For the purpose of discussion, the South China Sea also includes the adjoining Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Beibu (Tonkin).

    This chapter aims to examine the recent relationship and cooperation between ASEAN and China in the South China Seas (SCS). To this end, it will proceed in four steps: First, the chapter begins with a brief introduction to the SCS and its importance. Second, it recalls the recent developments and their implications. Third, the chapter proceeds to examine the cooperative activities in terms of confidence-building. Finally, it attempts to sum up some of the major findings and offer some policy recommendations where possible.

    IMPORTANCE OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

    The total area of the waters of Southeast Asia is about 8.9 million square kilometres, accounting for 2.5 per cent of the world's ocean waters, out of which, the SCS, including the Gulf of Thailand, has a total area of about 3.5 million square kilometres. The significance of the South China Sea is characterized by its environmental and ecological value, living and nonliving natural resources, and geopolitical and strategic position. It is the world's most diverse shallow-water marine area. Such richness in flora and fauna contributes to the area's high natural rates of primary and secondary production.

    First, the coastal sub-regions of the nations bordering the SCS are home to 270 million people, or 5 per cent of the world's population. The population in the region is predicted to increase from 475 million in 1993 to 726 million by the year 2025.2 In Southeast Asia, more than 70 per cent of the population live in coastal areas, and their dependency on the SCS for resources and transportation is high.

  • 1 - An Overview of ASEAN-China Relations

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 1-18

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    Before the 1990s, there was no official relationship between ASEAN as a grouping and China, although China had official bilateral relations with certain individual ASEAN member states. From the late 1980s, China intensified its efforts to establish diplomatic relations with all the remaining ASEAN states leading eventually to official relationship with the ASEAN grouping.

    In his visit to Thailand in November 1988, Chinese Premier Li Peng announced four principles in establishing, restoring and developing relations with all the ASEAN states. After establishing diplomatic relations 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 expressed China's interest in cooperating with ASEAN. The latter responded positively. In September 1993, ASEAN Secretary General Dato’ Ajit Singh visited Beijing and agreed to establish two joint committees, one on cooperation in science and technology, and the other on economic and trade cooperation. An exchange of letters between the ASEAN secretary general and the Chinese foreign minister on 23 July 1994 in Bangkok formalized the establishment of the two committees. At the same time, ASEAN and China agreed to engage in consultations on political and security issues at senior official level. In July 1996, ASEAN accorded China full Dialogue Partner status at the Twentyninth AMM in Jakarta, moving China from a Consultative Partner, which it had been since 1991.

    By early 1997, there were already five parallel frameworks for dialogue between ASEAN and China: (1) the China-ASEAN political consultation at senior official level; (2) the China-ASEAN Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation; (3) the ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee (ACJCC); (4) China-ASEAN Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation; and (5) the ASEAN Beijing Committee. China participated in a series of consultative meetings with ASEAN, which include the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) 9+1 and 9+10, the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting, the ASEAN-China Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and the ASEANChina Business Council Meeting.

  • 10 - India's Approach to ASEAN and Its Regional Implications

    • By Hu Shisheng, Institute of South & Southeast Asia Studies
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 128-150

  • Summary

    RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA-ASEAN RELATIONS

    The Phnom Penh ASEAN Summit held in November 2002 can be regarded as a watershed, which divides the development of India-ASEAN relations into two phases.

    In the first phase, India-ASEAN relations were mainly tentative and partial. India at this time focused largely on building up her relations with individual ASEAN countries, with different emphases and values for each. For example, in the trade, investment, and science and technology R&D dimension, New Delhi had stronger relations with Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia; in the defence and strategic dimension, India put much stress on her relations with Vietnam and Myanmar; in the area of natural resources cooperation (with energy cooperation in particular), India paid much attention to her relations with Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar; while with regard to security cooperation, especially in combating cooperatively against antigovernment forces, India attached great importance to her relations with Myanmar and Vietnam. Besides, India has selected Myanmar and Indochinese countries to be its major recipients of economic assistance.

    The most outstanding feature of India-ASEAN relations in the first phase is the focus on economic cooperation and trade promotion. From a Sectoral Dialogue Partnership established in 1992 to a Full Dialogue Partnership established in July 1996, building up close and powerful economic and trade relations and mutual investment had always been the priority between India and ASEAN countries. Thanks to such efforts, bilateral trade and investment had increased rapidly in the first phase. The bilateral trade volume had increased by 16.5 per cent annually, from US$2.9 billion in 1993 to US$9.9 billion in 2001. The investments from ASEAN countries also steadily rose to nearly 15 per cent of the total approved investments in India in 1995. According to India Investment Centre statistics, Indian joint ventures in ASEAN in 1996 numbered 118, with Indonesia 18, Malaysia 39, Singapore 37, and Thailand 24.

    During this phase, 1996 was a landmark year for Indo-ASEAN cooperation. In July 1996, at the Fifth ASEAN Summit, India became simultaneously a Full Dialogue Partner as well as a formal member of the ARF at the summit held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The entry into ARF put India at par with Western countries and China vis-à-vis ASEAN regional security, and economic and political arrangements.

  • 5 - Strengthening ASEAN-China Cooperation in the ASEAN Regional Forum

    • By Liu Xuecheng, American Studies, China Institute of International Studies
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 40-48

  • Summary

    The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is the most important governmental forum for multilateral security dialogue and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. It was officially initiated by ASEAN and the inaugural ARF Ministerial Meeting was held in Bangkok on 25 July 1994. For the past decade, all the annual ARF ministerial meetings have been hosted by ASEAN as the driving force. All the participants have exchanged views on security issues of common concern in a spirit of candour, thus reducing each other's suspicions and differences, enhancing mutual understanding and trust, and accelerating the process of security cooperation in the fields of common concern.

    The Second ARF Ministerial Meeting adopted the Concept Paper in 1995, designing the three-phase process of security dialogue and cooperation. They are the promotion of confidence-building, development of preventive diplomacy, and elaboration of approaches to conflict. ASEAN is the driving force for this process with other participants as dialogue partners.

    ARF has made substantial progress in promoting confidence-building and developing preventive diplomacy in the region for the past ten years. ARF has sought to increase mutual confidence and trust through dialogue and to promote peace and stability through multilateral cooperation on an equal footing. Such an approach is in line with the new security concept coming into shape in the course of security dialogue and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of the Cold War.

    In 2001, ARF made substantive progress. All participants reached consensus on the three documents about the enhanced role of the ARF Chair, Experts/Eminent Persons (EEP), and Preventive Diplomacy (PD), which signifies an important achievement in the transitional process as ARF moves from confidence-building measures to preventive diplomacy.

    In response to the situation after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the ARF has placed greater emphasis on anti-terrorism, non-proliferation of WMD and non-traditional security issues, and it has started substantive discussions on and collaboration in their solution. All this has added to the vitality and dynamism of the ARF process.

    China has valued ARF and became its dialogue partner at the time of its founding. China has worked hard to strengthen its cooperation with the ASEAN countries within the ARF framework for regional security and stability.

  • 21 - ASEAN-China Cooperation for Greater Mekong Sub-Region Development

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 316-328

  • Summary

    BACKGROUND

    It is fortunate that Southeast Asia is politically stable, enabling an environment conducive for regional cooperation and progress towards regional integration. However, while the spirit of regional cooperation is strengthening, the reality is that political and economic disparities exist among nation states in the region, and in general, institutional weakness continues to retard social progress, development and even social relations. Adding to that, as a consequence, it has been evident that Southeast Asia suffers from a high level of poverty which has worsened after the Asian economic crisis in 1997, the slowdown of Japan's and the United States’ economies which the region is highly dependent on for export. In addition, it seems that more and more foreign direct investment is going to the region's largest neighbour, China, due in part to its large consumer market and competitive labour market. Now that the economy of the region is somewhat recovering from the crisis and the political environment is encouraging for regional market development, it is fitting that member countries of the region work together with their neighbours to improve regional competitiveness and reduce dependency on external markets and capitals.

    This chapter looks at a specific area of cooperation which China could be very influential in promoting the interest of the common good for the region, for example, the ASEAN-China Economic Cooperation for the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS). The central point of this chapter is that developing ASEAN-China relations is necessary for mutual benefit but this cooperative relation should not turn out to be simply that of a core and peripheral relationship. Rather, this cooperative relationship between ASEANChina on GMS economic cooperation should be that of mutual partnership.

    Naturally, given the economic and political rise of Southeast Asia's biggest neighbour, the People's Republic of China, it is only rational that member countries of the region welcome the rapid economic growth of China, its manufacturing and output capacity, technological development and financial power. The hope is that the ASEAN-China Cooperation will be fruitful for the collective good of the region. The rise of China can bring positive changes to the economies of Southeast Asia through trade, investment, and the flow of goods across borders and cooperation in non-traditional security.

  • 2 - Securing a Win-Win Partnership for ASEAN and China

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 19-26

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    Let me begin by defining the word “win-win partnership” in the context of ASEAN-China dialogue relations. As the Chinese saying goes, “benevolent government and friendship with neighbouring countries are the good fortune of a country”, ASEAN and China are tapping the opportunities and complementarities offered by each other and acting as catalyst for one another to achieve higher development goals while maintaining peace, security and stability crucial for economic growth and prosperity. It means forging substantive cooperation based on the principles of mutual trust, respect, equality and mutual gains to create conditions that will benefit the people of both regions. The Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between ASEAN and China signed by the leaders of ASEAN and China in October 2003 called for the securing of such a partnership in the political and security, economic, social and cultural, and regional and international cooperation fields.

    REPOSITIONING CHINESE POLICY VIS-À-VIS ASEAN

    ASEAN-China relations in the last decade have not always been easy. In fact, the relationship has seen its ups and downs. Before ties between ASEAN and China were formally established in 1991, they were marked by mutual suspicion, mistrust and animosity largely because of China's support for the communist parties in ASEAN countries.

    The normalization of relations with China in 1990 by Indonesia and then Singapore and Brunei Darussalam acted as a catalyst to set the path for China's admission into the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994 and eventually the granting of ASEAN dialogue partnership in 1996. Since then, the partnership grew from strength to strength resulting in the expansion and deepening of cooperation in the economic, political and security, social and cultural and development cooperation areas.

    My Chinese friends have often said to me, “a close neighbour means more than a distant relative”. ASEAN recognized that it would have to work with China, its most populous neighbour in East Asia, to address the issues and challenges in the region.

    On the other hand, China was receptive to the friendly initiatives of ASEAN. This was largely due to the reorientation that the Chinese foreign policy went through.

  • 18 - China's Business Environment: A Macro Economic Perspective

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 260-272

  • Summary

    A macro perspective on China's business environment is important because business executives and investors need to understand what is driving China's growth in terms of both cyclical and structural factors, so that they can plan and manage with better market insights that are anchored in a broader and longer-term perspective. Accordingly, this chapter seeks to answer three key questions, covering both the short and the long term, which could help develop such insights. These questions are:

  • (i) What is the outlook in terms of the “hard” and “soft” landing debate and what is really driving China's growth?

  • (ii) What are some of the real bottlenecks to growth?

  • (iii) What are some of the most critical challenges to China's longer term growth prospects?

    • OUTLOOK IN TERMS OF THE “HARD” AND “SOFT” LANDING DEBATE AND WHAT IS REALLY DRIVING CHINA's GROWTH

    The whole debate over “hard” and “soft” landing is completely misguided. The primary distinguishing feature of the current economic expansion in China is that it is led by the private sector. This marks it as completely different from all previous cycles of expansion since the 1978 opening of the economy. The private sector in China today is driven almost entirely by business profitability, which is in turn dependent on buoyant demand. They have had little access to bank financing, and because they invested with their own funds, they are insensitive to either bank credit tightening or higher interest rates. As long as they are enjoying high returns, which they are, they will continue to expand, and there is little the government can do about it. China's private sector entrepreneurs live and die by their profits, and hence are closely tuned to changes in the market.

    So what is the big fuss about the government bringing in new measures to curb investment and to “cool” down economic growth? The fact is that the government acted earlier this year in a proactive way to curb excessive investment in the public sector, primarily the state-owned enterprises. This is a reflection of how much the Chinese leadership has taken to heart the lessons learned from the last boom-bust cycle of 1993–94.

  • 14 - China-ASEAN Maritime Security Cooperation: Situation and Proposals

  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 187-198

  • Summary

    INTRODUCTION

    Security cooperation means that two or more international actors, driven by mutually beneficial interests, take common actions to deal with the national security or regional security affairs in a coordinated way in order to achieve the anticipated goals of their respective national security.

    China and ASEAN member countries are important neighbours and strategic partners linked by the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca to its west. Therefore, this region is of great geostrategic significance to the world. At the same time, China and ASEAN countries are faced with a number of common challenges in their maritime security.

    At present, almost all the countries in the region hope to strengthen cooperation in Asia-Pacific affairs, advocate building trust through dialogue, solve differences through consultation and seek security through cooperation.

    However, it should be pointed out that regional security cooperation between China and ASEAN falls far behind the regional economic cooperation and development, and does not meet the needs of the developing regional security situation. In fact, China and ASEAN not only need the security cooperation, but have a great deal of common and complementary interests. Therefore, the maritime security cooperation between China and ASEAN has great strategic significance.

    The aim of this chapter is to analyse the situation of the China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation with a view to proposing steps to strengthen such cooperation. The following aspects are covered: (a) Geostrategic situation (b) Common challenges in China-ASEAN maritime security (c) A good beginning to the China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation (d) The basic foundation for the China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation (e) Principles of China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation (f) Flexible and diversified forms of ASEAN-China maritime security cooperation.

    GEOSTRATEGIC SITUATION

    The sea area around China and ASEAN states is at the crossroad linking the Indian and Pacific oceans as well as the Asian and Oceania continents. Since ancient times, this area has been the strategic sea lane of communication (SLOC) between the countries in the East, famously known as the “Silk Road at Sea”. With the continued development of economic globalization, this sea area is increasingly important to the global economic and military affairs.

  • 20 - Yunnan's Greater Mekong Sub-Region Strategy

    • By He Shengda, Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, Kunming, China, Sheng Lijun, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 294-315

  • Summary

    The past decade saw rapid development in the relations between China and ASEAN, especially since the announcement at the ASEAN-China Summit in 2001 in Brunei to build a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA). This CAFTA carries immense significance to the economic cooperation and development in Lancang-Mekong Basin or the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS). This chapter addresses this significance, with the focus on Yunnan's strategy of how to fully tap this development and business opportunity. It ends with some policy recommendations of how best to develop the GMS under the framework of the CAFTA.

    OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN YUNNAN's GMS DEVELOPMENT

    Opportunities

    In the early 1990s, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the six riparian countries of Lancang-Mekong River started a ministerial meeting to kick off the regional cooperation, which has since been known as the “Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) Cooperation”. A series of cooperation mechanisms have since been set up, including the (1) ADB-launched GMS Cooperation; (2) ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation; (3) Mekong Committee; and (4) Growth Quadrangle of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between the ASEAN and China, signed at the ASEAN-China Summit in November 2002, identified the GMS cooperation as one of its five priority fields while the Joint Declaration signed at the GMS Summit in 2002 further clarified the key projects of economic cooperation and urged for formulation and implementation of medium and long-term cooperation programmes.

    China's Yunnan province has a population of 43 million and area of 394,000 square kilometres which ranks eighth in China. It borders with three Mekong riparian countries with a total borderline of 4,060 kilometres. From ancient times, Yunnan had been an important gateway that linked China and Southeast Asia, called the Southern Silk Road. Now Yunnan has ten first-class port cities (state level) and ten second-class ports (provincial level), eighty-six border passes or trading places along the borders with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnamese, and four big rivers (Dulong-Irrawaddy, Nu-Salween, Lancang- Mekong and Red River) flow from Yunnan through mainland Southeast Asia. This geographical proximity and close relations with these countries give Yunnan a distinct advantage and strong interest in developing the GMS as a backbone of the CAFTA and as a breakthrough in the economic cooperation between China's southwest and ASEAN, and as the linkage connecting East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

  • 3 - China's Peaceful Development and Relations with its East Asian Neighbours

    • By Cai Bingkui, China Institute for International Strategic Studies
  • Book:
    ASEAN-China Relations
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    18 November 2017
    Print publication:
    17 August 2005, pp 27-30

  • Summary

    CHINA'S PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT

    China adheres to the road of peaceful development. It will take full advantage of the good opportunity that world peace affords to develop and strengthen itself, and at the same time safeguard world peace with its development.

    China's development will be mainly based on its own strength and selfreliance, the vast domestic market, rich human resources, abundant accumulation of capital as well as the systematic innovation triggered by reform.

    China's development could not be achieved without the rest of the world. China adheres to its opening-up policy and develops economic and trade exchanges with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit so as to realize common prosperity.

    China's development will require a very long time. Though China's GDP already ranks sixth and its total import and export trade volume ranks fourth in the world, China's per capita GDP is only a little over US$1,000, ranking behind the hundredth in the world. It requires long-term and unremitting efforts of probably several generations for China to realize its goal to rise.

    China's rise will definitely bring positive impact on the peace, stability and development of Asia and the world. It will not create obstacles or threats to anybody. China unswervingly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence and advocates a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination. It does not seek hegemony now, nor will it seek hegemony even after it becomes powerful in the future.

    CHINA'S POLICY OF GOOD-NEIGHBOURLINESS AND FRIENDSHIP

    China's development requires a sound peripheral environment.

    China persists in building a good neighbourly relationship and partnership with its neighbours. It has formulated a basic framework of developing relations with its neighbouring countries in the new century by the establishment of various types of partnership.

    The Chinese Government has always attached great importance to confidence-building measures with neighbouring countries and has worked hard for their adoption. It has energetically advocated the conclusion of border treaties or agreements through talks and consultations with the parties concerned, so as to safeguard equal security for all parties, and for regional peace and stability.

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