Editor’s note: China-ASEAN relations are developing and healthy. China and ASEAN countries have demonstrated falsification in this difficult period, and China-ASEAN relations are witnessing a forged momentum of all-round development. The two sides have preserved stability and sustained economic expansion in the region and charted a path of win-win cooperation. Three experts share their perspectives on the subject with China Daily.
The 43rd ASEAN Summit, to be held in Jakarta from 5 to 7 September, will usher in an era of intense activity in the Asia-Pacific region. Immediately after the ASEAN summit and similar leaders’ assemblies, several leaders toasted at the assembly They are expected to travel to India to attend the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 8-10.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has come a long way since its creation in 1967 and its first summit in 1976. Interestingly, the first ASEAN summit was also held in Indonesia (Bali to be precise). Indonesia lately chairs the 10 ASEAN members, which come with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Indeed, Indonesia, the largest and most populous country in Southeast Asia, has played a prominent role as the leader of ASEAN.
Indonesia’s leading role not only in regional affairs, but also in foreign affairs, is evidenced by his successful control of G20 affairs as president of the organization in 2022. Indeed, Indonesia’s experience in managing the demanding diplomatic situations of the G20 presidency successfully chaired the ASEAN Summit.
ASEAN summits have largely focused on ASEAN’s relations with its strategic components, the most important of which are countries with which ASEAN has established comprehensive strategic partnerships. These include Australia, China, India and the United States. Among Indonesia’s strategic components, China plays an important role in a special role. China is not only a comprehensive strategic component of ASEAN, but is also part of the ASEAN 3 regional cooperation mechanism that also includes Japan and the ROK. China is also engaged with ASEAN through the East Asia Summit mechanism.
China’s commitment to ASEAN is deep and varied, and is especially important from an economic point of view. China’s biological economic ties with ASEAN member states have resulted in China’s economic functionality having a strong impact on ASEAN’s economic prospects.
China has recently experienced relatively slow economic expansion. After just 3. 0% last year, China’s economy, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts, is expected to grow by 5. 2% and 4. 5% in 2023 and 2024. This relatively low rate of expansion of Chinese GDP has also had an effect on emerging Asia. ASEAN, which is a vital component of emerging Asia, is expected to grow by 5. 3 percent in 2023 and 5. 0 percent in 2024. Clearly, China’s relatively slow rate of expansion has had an effect on the growth of emerging Asia and ASEAN.
Over the years, several trade origin chains have emerged in the Asia-Pacific region, integrating the economies of China and many ASEAN member states. Many of those chains of origin have been disrupted or even damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Chains have begun to reconfigure, creating new specifications for production networks between China, ASEAN and the rest of the world.
The pandemic has also created new headaches for regional geopolitics. The Sino-American festival has intensified and is being evident in the difficult advances in the Taiwan Strait. ASEAN economies, many of which are defense partners and/or security allies of the United States, are suffering from balancing their relations between Beijing and Washington.
Complications have also arisen because the Russian-Ukrainian standoff has lasted more than a year and a half. In fact, other ASEAN members have taken other positions on the standoff, and some of them disagree with China’s. an effect on China’s relations with ASEAN.
The ultimate challenge to deepening China-ASEAN cooperation arises from struggles in critical spaces such as climate replacement and the virtual economy. Both China and ASEAN face the drawbacks of climate replacement. However, to address climate replacement together, they want to identify or deepen their cooperation on a wide diversity of cross-border trade regulations and regulations, over which disagreements may arise.
Regional virtual regulations have also led to problems. As the virtual industry has become incredibly important, virtual regulations have become a must-have for customers in China and ASEAN as a whole, both in business and economic progression. Regulations on climate change and the virtual economy have also led to problems. Political implications, in terms of the security issues they encompass, and will inevitably affect mutual discussions.
Given their long history of engagement, China and ASEAN deserve to think carefully about aspects of their relations to ensure that their industrial and economic exchanges produce more long-term mutual benefits in an increasingly complex world.
He is a senior research fellow and head of research (business and economics) at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore.
Reviews do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
BIS helped drive partners’ expansion in Southeast Asia
By CHANG CHAK YAN
Many accusations have been leveled against the Belt and Road Initiative since it was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013. The most common are: the initiative is a “debt trap” for emerging countries and a form of “new colonialism”. . This causes destruction of the environment.
However, the attitude of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations towards the Belt and Road Initiative shows that such accusations are simply baseless. ASEAN and its member states have been partners of the Belt and Road since 2013, and the huge number of completed and structured projects under the initiative shows that the benefits have been mutual.
For example, a high-speed railway built in Laos. The Bandung-Jakarta high-speed railway in Indonesia, about 142 kilometers long, ended this year. The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is a popular 665 km gauge double-track railway. And the large allocation of the port of Malacca presented two years ago, and when completed, would help ease the burden on the still-occupied port of Singapore.
In Myanmar, Belt and Road projects were introduced in 2021, adding high-speed railways, highways and dams. This infrastructure will only facilitate the movement of goods to and from the landlocked Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, but it will also bring immense benefits to Myanmar.
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are in some ways partners in the Belt and Road Initiative, adding the construction of railways and roads. Singapore’s prestige is essential for this initiative, specifically in the areas of investment, environmental protection, finance and legal services. Despite being a relatively small country, Brunei is a vital player in the monetary and oil fields, making it a valuable partner of the initiative.
In the case of the Philippines, progress on Belt and Road projects has been slow, but China is the Philippines’ largest trading partner. Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte supported joining the Belt and Road Initiative, but after the victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In the May 2022 presidential election, the initiative was unsuccessful in the Philippines, mainly because it attempted to revive the military deal with the United States and further heightened tensions around China’s Ren’ai Jiao, or Ren’ai Reef. Overall, China-Philippines relations suffered a setback when the Philippines allowed the U. S. military to rebuild naval bases on its territory in an effort to involve China’s rise.
However, the Belt and Road Initiative has made many remarkable achievements. First, the Belt and Road projects have facilitated economic expansion and social progress in many countries. Railways, roads and ports have boosted transport and are the backbone of expansion, linking cities with cities and rural areas, and even remote villages, speeding up the movement of goods, adding agricultural products, thus expanding markets, reducing unemployment and selling education, especially in the countryside.
Secondly, Belt and Road projects have contributed to the progress of foreign industry of many countries through the structure and improvement of ports, airports and roads. This is evident in countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. They have also helped ASEAN, China’s largest trading partner.
Thirdly, the initiative has also contributed to the restoration of political stability in some countries. Through construction and infrastructure under the Belt and Road, some countries have accelerated economic development, creating an abundant number of jobs and reducing unemployment, which has reduced public anger. and mitigated the opposition’s attack on the government of the day.
Fourth, the Belt and Road Initiative has consolidated ASEAN’s centrality in the Asia-Pacific region, helping to promote the long-term progress of ASEAN member states through Chinese investment and trade. Only economic stability can guarantee political stability. And to do so, ASEAN will have to maintain its politically impartial stance and oppose any external interference in regional affairs.
And fifth, returning to the “China threat” theory spread between the United States and its allies, the strong relations that ASEAN and China have built over the past decades demonstrate that ASEAN members oppose America’s strategy of division. it failed to entrap Southeast Asian countries into adhering to its “Indo-Pacific strategy,” which aims to crack down on China, because it knows it has a tendency to gain advantages from its economic and industrial relations with China.
As Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said, ASEAN as a whole cannot do without industry with China.
Unhappy with this fact, American presidents skipped ASEAN summits. Former President Donald Trump was the first to do so. Outgoing President Joe Biden has to follow in his footsteps and skip the ASEAN summit to be held September 5-7 in Jakarta.
To quote Lee Hsien Loong again, ASEAN cannot take sides in the confrontation between China and the United States. As a result, the “Chinese threat” theory has no one to accept it in Southeast Asia.
He is the Dean of the Academy of Journalism and Information in Taima, Malaysia.
The reviews do not necessarily constitute those of the China Daily.
Indonesia’s progress will provide more opportunities for Chinese investment
By Cirilo Pereira
Fifty-six years later, a mature ASEAN, which now has 10 member states, joined by Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei, is focused on the free movement of goods within the bloc. Tariffs are set at 0 and non-tariff barriers The fact that Member States have benefited from the peace dividend is evident in the political stability and economic expansion of the region.
At the 43rd ASEAN Summit, to be held in Jakarta from 5 to 7 September, the agreement will focus on its positioning as a major regional player with huge prospects for economic expansion and investment. It may simply be the new engine of global expansion as China moves forward. Move up the commercial ladder through its pursuit of technology-driven sustainable development.
While previous ASEAN summits have more commonly dealt with internal ASEAN issues, the 43rd summit will likely address foreign relations, such as its relations with Asia-Pacific countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and China, on security, investment. and market access purposes.
ASEAN member states together have a population of 670 million and a GDP of $3. 7 trillion. As an economic bloc, its rate of economic expansion is expected to surpass Japan and the Republic of Korea, to mention the United States and the European Union, in recent years. next decade.
Indeed, because of its central position in the economy of the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN is carving out a position on the world stage. For example, in November 2020, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand joined the 10 ASEAN members to shape the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest flexible industrial arrangement. RCEP covers one third of the world’s population and accounts for 30% of global GDP. This is the first FTA signed through Japan and also includes China. and the Republic of Korea.
Thanks to the RCEP, about 65% of the goods traded among the 15 members are tax-free, and in about 20 years, 90% of them will be tax-free. This has facilitated free trade in unfired fabrics and finished products in the region. which will inspire China and Western economies to increase investment in ASEAN economies.
What about road, rail and maritime transport infrastructure within and between ASEAN member states, which is needed to turn policies into tangible benefits?Industry within ASEAN remains low, at only 21 per cent, most likely because cross-border transport is more expensive. due to logistical inefficiency and non-standardized regulations.
In the midst of all this, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced a plan to move the country’s capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan and Borneo, which calls for the structure and progression of roads, railways, buildings and a 5G network in this virgin jungle province. New site with smart cities and sustainability technologies. The structure of Nusantara (as the new capital is called) would cost $32. 5 billion.
In addition, Widodo plans to build one hundred “smart cities” across Indonesia by 2045. The latest virtual technologies, synthetic intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, waste recycling facilities, renewable energy generation and quality of life plans will make Indonesia a leading country in ASEAN based on herbs.
This is where China’s proposed Belt and Road Initiative comes in. The initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road of the XXI Century, aims at connectivity through ports, container terminals, bridges, railways, roads and telecommunications networks. Indeed, under the Belt and Road, Chinese corporations have already contributed to the realization of Widodo’s plans.
For example, China’s Power Construction Corporation has been involved in the structure of a hydroelectric dam on the Kayan River in North Kalimantan since 2019.
Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co has worked on 12 progression projects in Indonesia since 2006, hydropower in North and West Kalimantan.
While China Road and Bridge Corporation, China Communications Construction Indonesia and China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corporation bid for parts of the toll road connecting Balikpapan oil port to Penajam Paser Utara, where the new capital will be built, China provided a $59 million loan in 2019 for the structure of the toll road component connecting Balikpapan to Samarinda.
While China Railways Construction Corporation intends to expand Nusantara’s shipping system, Hongshi Holdings Group plans to build a cement plant in East Kalimantan with an annual output of 8 million tons that would employ 13,000 people.
In addition, with the help of China, Widodo finally inaugurated in December 2021 the structure of the Indonesian industrial park in the Bulungan regency on 30,000 hectares.
Meanwhile, China and the UAE are the top donors to Indonesia’s commercial park, which is expected to be the world’s largest eco-friendly trade park and attract $132 billion in investments, with Chinese corporations also investing in it.
But all these development plans and activities have left local people and NGOs concerned about the environmental damage caused in Kalimantan, whose rainforest is rich in biodiversity, teeming with endemic flora and fauna and home to many.
However, the government and businesses trust the local population that tests on the environmental effects will be commissioned and recommendations will be implemented to mitigate the negative effects.
He is a senior Malaysian media official based in Hong Kong.
The reviews do not necessarily constitute those of the China Daily.