ASEAN chief says positive about intensifying ties with China

ASEAN is positive about intensifying relations with China and is committed to realizing 500 billion US dollars in two-way trade by 2015, a senior ASEAN official said in Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday.

The proposal by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to escalate China- ASEAN relations is viewed positively by the bloc's member states, Le Luong Minh, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), told media on the sidelines of the 23rd ASEAN Summit held Wednesday in Brunei's capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.

In his address to ASEAN leaders at the 16th China-ASEAN Summit, which was held back-to-back with the 23rd ASEAN Summit, Li called for upgrading the existing China-ASEAN Free Trade Area as well as putting in place a fresh seven-point plan to increase engagement with ASEAN within the next decade.

"ASEAN and China realize the importance of further promoting our partnership. China is a major partner of ASEAN in the sphere of trading. China is a major partner and a main source of FDI into ASEAN, so cooperation has been very encouraging," said Le.

China was the first country to cede to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation, he pointed out, and they have now proposed a treaty on good neighborliness, amity and cooperation.

"The idea is well received and will be studied by ASEAN," said the official.

Currently, China is ASEAN's largest trading partner, while ASEAN is China's third largest trading partner after the United States and European Union, with bilateral trade topping 400 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Le also emphasized that ASEAN would continue to narrow the development gap among its members and focus on inclusive and sustainable development.

"There has been progress in building an ASEAN Community so talking about the development gap there has been progress on ASEAN integration. In fact the combined GDP of the four new members in 1990 was only 3.5 percent, but now it has increased by 12 percent so there has been progress in the effort to reduce the development gap," Le said.