Closer China-ASEAN community to bring certainty to region and beyond

China is ready to continue building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, and bring more certainty and positive energy to peace, stability and sustained prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and beyond, said Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Hou Yanqi.

Hou made her remarks in talks with media people and researchers in Jakarta on Thursday, with a theme "China's economic development and expectations for the China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation in 2024."

The ambassador said she believes that China and ASEAN will continue to upgrade economic and trade cooperation and achieve solid progress in their comprehensive strategic partnership. And together they will contribute more to economic globalization in the right direction and make global governance more just and balanced.

ASEAN has remained China's largest trading partner for intermediate goods for many years. China-ASEAN economic and trade relationship has been full of highlights and promising prospects. The bilateral trade volume reached $911.7 billion in 2023.

She noted economic and trade cooperation cannot be achieved without institutional support of free trade and institutional support of the free trade agreement.

She was referring to negotiations on version 3.0 of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) to create broader space for regional development. In 2002, China and ASEAN countries signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation as its legal basis for the ACFTA. Both China and ASEAN are members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP and other international groups.

Moreover, China is upgrading its economy with new quality productive forces, which means advanced productivity with innovation playing the leading role, she said.

"So everything is made in China now we are trying our best to create in China," the ambassador said. She added that this shift also offers new opportunities for international collaborations.

M. Habib Abiyan Dzakwan, a researcher at the Department of International Relations, Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said the remarks of Hou was a good momentum for the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership "to do more in delivering high-quality outcomes to the people of our nations."

China will undeniably remain a strategic partner to Indonesia and ASEAN due to geographical proximity and compatible economic interests, he said.

"I appreciate China's reassurance that they would remain interested in improving economic partnership with ASEAN and its member states," Dzakwan said.

"China's reassurance is important as some ASEAN countries are in the critical juncture of whether they can leap forward and dismantle the Middle Income Trap. And definitely, they need support from foreign investment," he said.

Wang Daohao, counselor of the Chinese embassy for ASEAN, said China's development cooperation with ASEAN focuses on three fields as requested by the association. They are infrastructure building, the improvement of people's livelihood, and humanitarian assistance.

On infrastructure development, Wang said China, for example, had already built 30 highways and nine bridges in Cambodia, with a total length of 3,000 kilometers. More highways and railways are under construction in the region with China's help.

Also, China has built schools and two bridges in the Philippines and has made a plan to build a railway in Vietnam. China also has built disease diagnostic laboratories in Laos and Myanmar.

"So we are helping ASEAN countries to realize their targets," Wang said. And China will also provide more opportunities for small and medium enterprises in ASEAN members to develop.

Adhitya Wardhono, economics lecturer at Universitas Jember in East Java, said that ASEAN-China economic cooperation needs to be boosted considering the current uncertainty in the global economy and geopolitics. Bilateral trade value in the 2022-23 period was ten times from ten years ago.

He said ASEAN is more focused on the economy than the political tensions incited by territorial disputes between some of the association member countries and China.

"The positive achievements reached so far need to be increased, which will provide a good opportunity (for ASEAN) amidst the uncertainty in the global economy and the global geopolitics," Wardhono said.

Moreover, China may become the front-liner for ASEAN countries to develop digital infrastructure for their digital economy and trade, he said. China has made fast progress in the digital economy, which has enabled the world's second-largest economy to compete globally.