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China snuggles up to Southeast
Asia
By Isagani de Castro
BALI, Indonesia - China's increasingly cozy ties
with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
will grow even warmer this week when Beijing accedes to
the diplomatic grouping's code of conduct, which rules
out use of force in the settlement of disputes.
The Chinese government's accession to the ASEAN
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), scheduled for
Wednesday at the ASEAN summit in Bali, is relevant given
Beijing's involvement in territorial disputes in
Southeast Asia, including the resource-rich Spratly
Islands, also claimed by five other countries.
The accession marks a key point of consensus
between smaller neighbors in the region and China, whose
economic engagement has grown significantly in recent
years in contrast to years past when Southeast Asian
nations were often wary of China's territorial aims and
economic strength.
"It [accession] is another
step in the increasing closer relations between ASEAN
and China," said ASEAN secretariat spokesman M C Abad.
"The treaty is a symbolic gesture of solidarity."
At last year's ASEAN summit in Cambodia, China
and ASEAN signed four agreements: a free-trade area by
2010, a landmark Declaration on the Conduct of Parties
on the South China Sea - where the Spratly Islands are
located - cooperation on transnational crimes and
agricultural cooperation.
China's ambassador to
the Philippines, Wang Chungui Wang, underscored the
swiftness with which ties between China and Southeast
Asia have grown by saying, "China is about to join
ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. China's
bilateral trade with ASEAN as a group reached US$54.77
billion last year. The two sides are now actively
putting the agreement on free-trade area into effect."
China is the first country to accede to ASEAN's
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a regional code of
conduct on relations between states. The most important
principle in the treaty is the provision where parties
renounce the use of force in the settlement of disputes.
"In case disputes on matters directly affecting
them should arise, especially disputes likely to disturb
regional peace and harmony, they shall refrain from the
threat or use of force and shall at all times settle
such disputes among themselves through friendly
negotiations," states Article 13 of the treaty.
ASEAN spokesman Abad said ASEAN has always
wanted China to accede to the treaty but "China would
always say in the past that this is a Southeast Asian
treaty of Southeast Asian states.
"We thought
that by getting other countries to accede to the treaty,
eventually China will accede. But now, they'll be the
first. That's how much ASEAN welcomes this event," Abad
said. "It means China is prepared to engage ASEAN under
the rules of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation."
Abad attributed the change in China's attitude
to the importance of having a stable and peaceful
environment in the region for China's economic
development.
"China needs a favorable
environment in the region to continue its economic
development, which is not inconsistent with ASEAN's
strategic needs," Abad said.
In addition, he
said, "China wants to be seen as a responsible member of
the international community, a country that is prepared
to follow the rules accepted by the international
community." In 2001, for instance, China joined the
World Trade Organization, another "demonstration of its
willingness to play by the rules".
On the part
of ASEAN, Abad said: "There is no other way to deal with
China but to engage it in regional processes. China is
important as a neighbor politically, in terms of
security and is also important as an emerging economic
power."
The Manila-based Asian Development Bank
(ADB) also pointed out China's importance to the region
in its Annual Development Outlook 2003.
In a
press conference last Tuesday, Ifzal Ali, ADB chief
economist, said: "A very distinctive feature of economic
development in this region over the past two years has
been the emergence of the People's Republic of China
[PRC] as a major growth engine for international trade".
He said exports from East, Southeast, and South
Asia to the PRC grew at "startling rates" during the
first half of 2003. China "has already overtaken the
United States as the main export market for some East
Asian economies, such as [South] Korea", Ali said.
With growing Asian intra-regional trade, Ali
said that "if this trend persists ... Asia's economic
outlook would, over time, become less vulnerable to
economic swings in industrial countries".
Wang
said the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the
South China Sea signed in last year's ASEAN summit
"further enhanced mutual trust between the two sides".
He said China and ASEAN are working together on the
"follow-ups" of the declaration.
Another Asian
country that will accede to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity
and Cooperation at the ASEAN summit is India, making two
of Asia's biggest and most populous countries supporters
of the accord. A signing ceremony on India's accession
is also scheduled on Wednesday following China's
accession.
Abad commented on the enormity of
India and China's decision to accede and discussed the
backing their accessions would give to the treaty.
"Practically, you're talking about the whole of Asia,
about 2.5 billion people, easily one-third of the
world's population," he said.
(Inter Press
Service)
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