A general introduction to ASEAN and China-ASEAN Relations

Southeast Asia has historically been a region that has a close relationship with China. In the Early Ming Dynasty, early 15th century, the famous Chinese explorer Zheng He sailed through the South China Sea and the Strait of Melaka in his famous voyages. He established good personal relationships with the Sultan of Melaka and many other local communities in Southeast Asia. There was also a migration wave from China into Southeast Asia since the 19th Century and this phenomenon pushed the relationship between China and the Southeastern Asian countries even further.

ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN is an economic union comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia. The member states include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The secretariat of ASEAN is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. The key issues that ASEAN is focusing on include regional security, economic development and trade, environmental protection and other important global issues. Many ASEAN countries are now considered to be emerging economies with huge potential. The ASEAN secretariat predicts that ASEAN will become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030.

If we analyze the ASEAN countries in depth, we can see that Singapore has the highest Human Development Index among all member countries by scoring 0.938 in 2019. Singapore also has the highest GDP per Capita among all member states. The country’s GDP per Capita in the year 2019 was $65,233.3. Meanwhile Myanmar has the lowest Human Development Index by scoring only 0.583 in 2019. Indonesia is the largest economy and also the most populated country in ASEAN. Jakarta which is the country’s capital is also the largest city in ASEAN. This is one of the major reasons behind the decision to make Jakarta the secretariat of ASEAN.

ASEAN works closely with many other international organizations and non-regional countries. One of the closest partners of ASEAN in the Asian-Pacific region are China, Korea and Japan. The three East Asian countries now work with ASEAN countries under the ASEAN Plus Three mechanism. ASEAN Plus Three is a forum that functions as a coordinator of co-operation between the ASEAN and China, Korea and Japan. The government leaders, ministers and other senior officials could discuss many important regional and international issues through this mechanism. In recent years, the idea of ASEAN Plus Six also came up and countries such as India, Australia and New Zealand were added into this initiative. One of the biggest achievements under the initiative by ASEAN Plus Six was development of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2020. The 15 members under RCEP account for around 30% of the world’s population and nearly 30% of global GDP, making RCEP the largest trading bloc in the world. Many strategists predict that the 21st Century will be the century of Asia. With the Rise of China and the development of ASEAN countries, the fulfilment of this prophecy has never been closer. And given the fact that China now works very closely with ASEAN countries on so many regional and international issues, the voice of Asia will only get stronger and wider.

The year 1991 marked the beginning of China-ASEAN dialogue and the foundation of the relationship. Over the 30 years of bilateral relationship between China and ASEAN, both sides are dedicated to promoting the sound development of regional cooperation and coordination in East and Southeast Asia. Although there are differences between China and some members of the ASEAN on issues such as the South China Sea, both sides have continued to engage in dialogue on solving these differences and achieving a win-win cooperation. The collaboration between China and ASEAN in mechanisms such as ASEAN Plus Three, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia Cooperation Dialogue, APEC is also encouraging to see. According to the Ministry of Commerce of China, the bilateral trade between ASEAN and China reached $641.46 billion in 2019, growing by 9.2% over the previous year. China has also remained ASEAN’s top trading partner for 11 years consecutively, and ASEAN has now become China’s second largest trading partner trailing the European Union. 2019 was also the year that ASEAN became the second most popular destination for oversea Chinese investment and ASEAN is also now the third largest source of investment for China. Under the general circumstances of the US-China trade wars, the economic engagement between ASEAN countries and China is more important than ever before.

I used to live in Malaysia for five years and spent a great part of my childhood in Thailand. I feel extremely connected with the people of Southeast Asia and firmly believe that the region and its culture played an important role in shaping my character and world view. I hope for the very best of China-ASEAN cooperation and coordination. When China and ASEAN countries work together, the voice of Asia and its people will certainly get much stronger. We can only achieve prosperity for Asia and all of the countries in the region through mutual collaboration. Let’s continue to work alongside each other on solving some of the most challenging issues of the time.