On August 4th, the 15th Commercial Ministerial Meeting of China-ASEAN (10+1) was held in Vientiane, Laos. The Chinese Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng, who was leading the Chinese delegation, attended the meeting and gave five suggestions on the cooperation between China and the ASEAN member countries. The meeting discussed and passed the Joint Declaration on Capacity Cooperation between China and ASEAN , agreed to submit the proposal of the meeting of China-ASEAN leaders, which is also the summit meeting of the 25th anniversary of the conversational relationship between China and the ASEAN and that it should be released to the world as the important harvest of the meeting.
Gao Hucheng expressed that China and ASEAN are connected geographically and emotionally, are unmovable neighbors and unbroken friends. This year is the 25th anniversary of the conversational relationship between China and the ASEAN. For all these 25 years, both sides have broadened the area of cooperation and enhanced its level continuously. China will always support the development of ASEAN and its core position in regional cooperation. China will also support the ASEAN to make bigger influence in global issues.
Gao Hucheng pointed out that Chairman Xi visited the ASEAN countries in 2013, offered the idea of making “the marine silk road of 21st century” and cooperating to build a more intimate China-ASEAN community. Vital consensus was reached between Premier Li Keqiang and the ASEAN leaders on “2+7 cooperation system”. The cooperation between China and ASEAN has been raised to a whole new level. For a long time, commercial cooperation is the engine and base of China-ASEAN relationship development. From 1991 to 2015, the total amount between the two sides has raised from 7.96 billion dollars to 472.16 billion dollars, an annual increase of 18.5% , its proportion in China’s total foreign trade amount increased from 5.9% to 11.9%. . Presently, ASEAN is the third biggest commercial partner of China and China is the biggest of ASEAN’s, the total amount of investment to ASEAN countries from China is over 160 billion dollars. The scope and depth of the commercial cooperation between the two sides has been enhanced continuously, the process of China –ASEAN free trade zone was officially launched off in 2002 and built in 2010, the negotiation for enhancement was done in 2015. The development of cooperation between the two sides in areas like agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, industry, building industry, service and etc. was rapid. The cross-bordering infrastructure building cooperation programs such as road, railway and harbor were launched off one by one. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which was co-founded by China and the ten countries of ASEAN is now working, programs form the ASEAN members were included in the first group of investment.
Gao Hucheng expressed that China and ASEAN countries should support each other and help each other. The “One Belt and One Road” proposal has made a blueprint for the cooperation and development for the two sides. Besides the channel of mutual aids, Premier Li Keqiang offered 150 million aid to the ASEAN countries. China has created almost 20 thousand workers through different courses. The connection is has been strengthened, there are more and more members visiting each other, the figure in 2015 reached 23.64 million, becoming the new historical high. Among these, there were 17 million Chinese who chose the ASEAN countries as the first destination during their trip, increasing 50%, accounting for 14% of the total amount of the Chinese who travelled abroad.
Gao Hucheng offered 5 suggestions on the commercial cooperation between the two sides.
1. Deepen the connection of strategy on development, build the “One Belt and One Road” hand in hand. The Chinese side will follow Xi Jinping’s principle of discussing together, building together and sharing together , not a solo by China, but a a choir with other countries.” The initiative of “One Belt One Road” should be docked with other ASEAN countries to promote the programs in other areas, enhance the mutual beneficial and win-win cooperation in depth.
2. Promote the cooperation of the capacity of product, create a cross-bordering industrial line. China and ASEAN have the positive basis of strengthening the capacity of product and great potential. China would like to cooperate with ASEAN in areas like electricity, railway, road, vehicle, chemical industry, smelt material, textile, communication technology, mechanism and equipment production and agriculture. China also would like to encourage both sides to cooperate in investment, engineering, technology, service, commerce and all other areas, and offer experience to world economy by enlightening Asian economy through the commercial cooperation between China and ASEAN.
3. Support the construction of ASEAN community, and take part in the process of ASEAN’s integration. China will continue to provide assistance to the under-developed ASEAN members within its ability, so as to bridge the development gap of the members. China will continue to support the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, take part in the formulation and implementation of the General Plan for ASEAN connectivity and the Post-2015 Connectivity Development Plan. China will also promote China-East ASEAN Growth Area and Lantsang-Mekong cooperation, and actively provide financing supports through platforms like China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Silk Road Fund.
4. Support ASEAN to give a full play to its core roles, and promote RCEP to complete negotiation within this year. ASEAN is the initiator and leader of RCEP. China firmly supports ASEAN to play the leading role in negotiation. China is willing to make efforts to settle disputes and complete negotiation while cooperating with all the parties, following the principle of inclusiveness, cooperation and pragmatic, and considering the different development levels of the countries before the end of the year with great ambition and flexibility.
5. Broaden China-ASEAN cooperation, and find new highlights of mutual benefit. China supports the provinces to establish practical and efficient economic and trade cooperation mechanism with ASEAN countries, deepens bilateral cooperation in park construction, industrial matchmaking and human resources development, and promotes further development of local cooperation in border and coastal provinces. China will build communication and cooperation platforms for small and medium sized enterprises in order to provide fund and policy supports, promote the innovative development of e-commerce, and cultivate upstream and downstream industrial chain.
Chinese Ambassador to Laos Guan Huabing and Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen attended the meeting.
