Asia-Pacific
Better Sino-US ties to help East Asia
By Cai Xiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-23 08:51
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BEIJING - China and the United States should avoid competition in order to ensure a better future for the East Asian region, a leading Indonesian scholar suggested on Monday.
 Premier Wen Jiabao shakes hands with Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday. Beijing promised to act on principles set forth in the framework of the free trade zone between the two sides. [Wu Zhiyi/China Daily] |
Jusuf Wanandi, co-founder of the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said China was "the center of East Asia's development", while the US was likely to remain the largest economy in the world in the next couple of decades.
"The center-piece of strategic developments in East Asia is the relationship between China and the US," the 73-year-old told a symposium commemorating the 60th anniversary of bilateral ties between China and Indonesia.
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Wen and Surin vowed on Monday to further develop ties between China and ASEAN member nations.
Wen is scheduled to visit Jakarta in late April, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said earlier this month.
The US should also be made a partner in regional development, Wanandi suggested.
The US should be included in a "credible East Asian institution", he said, noting that a start can be made by inviting Washington to the East Asia Summit.
The summit is a forum held annually and attended by leaders of 16 countries in the region. The fourth summit was held in Thailand late last year.
The US, whose power may well decline in the next two decades due to China's rise, should also make the right choice between sharing power with Beijing or "trying to maintain primacy by contesting China's rise", Wanandi said.
"Whatever the US' choice, Asia's international order would be different in the future The main worry is about a strategic competition between the two (China and the US)."
"Other regional states will be faced with tough choices if this is the strategy the US is going to adopt," he added.
A leading Chinese scholar, however, pointed out that there was strong competition between China and the US in the region, particularly in Southeast Asia.
In July last year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even declared in Thailand that Washington was back in contention in Southeast Asia. Many in China considered that as Washington's move to compete with Beijing there.
China and ASEAN established the world's most populous Free Trade Area at the beginning of 2010; the US is proposing to sign a similar agreement with the 10-member nation-bloc.
"The US has proposed to sign the FTA with ASEAN so as to weaken its cooperation with China," said Zhang Yunling, former director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Sino-Indonesian ties
In a fortnight, China and Indonesia will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, which were formally established on April 13, 1950.
Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said both nations must address two key issues before improving ties.
The status of overseas Chinese in Indonesia has been a mutual concern, Qu said. "Indonesia should adequately protect Chinese interests within the framework of Indonesian law," Qu suggested.
Indonesia has voiced its worries on the implementation of the FTA on industries such as textiles, garments, and iron and steel.
"Indonesia plays an exemplary role, whose attitude is vital for the (future) prospects of the China-ASEAN FTA," he said.
