Former ASEAN chief: China-ASEAN cooperation shaping for broader future

The strategic partnership between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has developed for a decade into a win-win cooperation mechanism, is shaping for a broader future, said Surin pitsuwan, former secretary general of ASEAN. In a recent interview with Xinhua, the senior Thai diplomat began with his reminiscences of the history of China-ASEAN cooperation, which made substantial progress during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. "China came out and helped the ASEAN countries. That transformed the dynamics of the relationship. China presented itself as a major partner to ASEAN in the middle of the crisis. That has been very much appreciated. Since then, we have come a long way developing China-ASEN cooperation,"he said. Speaking highly of the achievements of the relations over the past decade, Surin, who served as ASEAN secretary general from 2008 to 2012, said China's tremendous market has served as a boost to all of ASEAN countries and the bloc's economic growth, which has brought region-wide prosperity and integration, is linked to China's rapid economic rise. "This year, we expect all of ASEAN 5.9 percent of growth. China would be 7 plus. It's considered already lower in China but it's still a big engine for growth for ASEAN. Bilateral trade could reach close to 500 billion this year, a phenomenal growth, and there is more room to grow,"said Surin. "Right now, it's in all dimensions, political, strategically, economical, social, cultural, everything. So it has become a win- win kind of formula,"he added. Looking into the future, the former ASEAN chief said China- ASEAN relations will be deepened, intensified and extended to a bigger architecture which will facilitate East Asia economic integration. "We will grow further. We will cooperate more and integrate more. We are working on a big architecture called Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP),"he said. He noted that China's new leadership, which took office in March, placed a lot of emphasis on the promotion of China-ASEAN relations and its support for RCEP has increased confidence among potential participants of the mechanism. RCEP, covering ASEAN's 10 members, China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, targets to attain a comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement that involves deeper engagement than the existing ASEAN FTAs. Surin admitted that as their relations diversify and become more sophisticated, ASEAN and China are facing new challenges which they need to tackle together, such as trans-border drug trafficking, human smuggling, epidemics, environment pollution, and notably, South China Sea issue. "We have mechanisms to work together. With China, ASEAN has the highest number of mechanisms and agreements to manage the relationship among all ASEAN dialogue partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, EU, U.S. Canada and Russia. It is to make sure that we benefit from the cooperation that is a win-win relationship,"he said.