Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (5th L) attends the 19th summit between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations, in Vientiane, Laos, Sept. 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)
Solid Cooperation Foundation
The faith in China on its role to lead regional integration is built on the success of 25 years of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. ASEAN and China held a commemorative summit on Wednesday to mark the achievement since the establishment of dialogue relations.
"On the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations, personally I think there are a lot of reasons to celebrate because this cooperation has been very successful in many ways," said Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan, Former Malaysian ambassador to China.
"First, the cooperation has benefited not only ASEAN and China, but also the region. With China's engagement with ASEAN, we have seen more peaceful, stabilized Southeast Asia," he told Xinhua.
"Secondly, China's contribution has been surprising in terms of the programs, in terms of the activities and also in terms of the mechanisms that has been established."
Insofar as concrete results, great achievements have been made in terms of trade, investment and other area, he said.
China and ASEAN are now indispensable to each other economically, thanks to the steady growth of trade and investment in the past 25 years. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for seventh consecutive years, and ASEAN has been China's third largest trading partner for 5 years.
"ASEAN and China have come a long way in building and strengthening their strategic relationship," said Teh Cheng Guan at University of Science, Malaysia.
"As China grew and developed economically, economic ties between ASEAN member states and China have become stronger. This creates economic interdependence and encourages further cooperation, not only at the ASEAN-wide level but also at sub-regional levels such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)," he said.
Greater Regional Integation
For ASEAN, analyst expects China to support its further community building and cement its ties with the 10-member bloc, as both sides joint hand to foster greater regional integration.
"The past 25 years have proved China's significance and its role to the development of ASEAN," said Soukthavy Keola, a former counselor at the Lao embassy in China, adding that the solid foundation built in the 25 years will contribute to future ASEAN-China ties.
ASEAN announced the establishment of ASEAN community in 2015, a milestone of its regional integration effort. Still, it faces the challenge to further reduce non-tariff barrier and the development gap among its members.
Abdul Majid, the former Malaysian ambassador to China, said China could help narrow the development gap by investing and improving infrastructure in the less developed ASEAN members.
China and ASEAN have moved beyond the burgeoning trade relations in recent years to broader economic relations, including investment and industrial capacity cooperation.
For his part, Oh urged China and ASEAN countries to truly move to an economic community with common production base and common market.
"This will not only necessarily bring China and ASEAN toward a true community of common destiny, but could also serve as shining example to other regional major economies," he said.
